New Start, New Acadamy and a New Cold Heart
by Drakien Seckuro
Summary: Drakien Seckuro, NDA's top duelist. No one gets near him due to the way he acts towards other people. Alexis is transferred to NDA and meets this student. She soon becomes determined to find out why he acts that way
1. A New Start

A New Start

A young boy with black hair, which had the front covering the right side of his face, sat on top of a roof. He was wearing a red long sleeved shirt, black trousers and a long black sleeveless jacket. He was watching the people carrying their bags into the building. He decided to leave five minutes later. Meanwhile a young girl with long blond hair and brown eyes walked into the building. _Bloody hell this place is huge compared to Duel Academy_ she thought. She grabbed her bag and went over to a board which had a map of the school. Once she found out where reception was she started to make her way.

She eventually found reception and walked up.

"Excuse me, can you help me please?" she asked.

"I'll try my best, what is it your after?" replied the receptionist.

"My name is Alexis Rhodes and I was wondering if you could tell me where my room is?" explained the girl.

"Ah yes, I'll just find out for you…..Ah room seventeen on the third floor, east wing," replied the receptionist.

"Thank you," Alexis said and headed off to find her room. After ten minutes Alexis still hadn't found her room. As she walked round a corner she walked into someone.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you," Alexis apologized.

"Sorry," muttered a male voice. Alexis looked up and saw a young boy with black hair, which had the front covering the right side of his face, and blue eyes, wearing a red long sleeved shirt, black trousers and a long black sleeveless jacket. He then side-stepped her and started to walk off.

"Excuse me, do you know where room seventeen is on the east wing, third floor," she asked quickly.

"Yes," was all he said and took two steps and then turned around, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well I've been told that's where my room is, I'm new here," Alexis explained.

The boy nodded and then motioned for Alexis to follow him. They eventually arrived at the room Alexis was supposedly staying at. The boy opened the door and walked in, followed by Alexis.

"Thank you for helping me, my names Alexis Rhodes," she said and she held out her hand.

The boy just looked at her hand and just shook his head., turned around and started to leave.

"Well can I at least know your name then?" Alexis asked not liking the boys attitude.

"Drakien," was all the boy said and he then walked off. Alexis shook her head and started to look around the room. She found that there was two bedrooms, both capable of bunking two people. _I thought I was on my own_ she thought when she found this out. When she found the second room she saw that it was already occupied by one person, so she decided to wait for that person to arrive. So she went back to her room and started to unpack her stuff.

A couple of hours later Alexis was sitting on the sofa in the main part of the room almost asleep. She was just about to drop off to sleep when she heard the door handle turning. Sitting up she waited to see who she was haring this dorm room with. The opened and Drakien was standing there.

"Oh its you," she said a bit let down. "Do you know who else is sharing this room with me?"

"Yeah," Drakien said

"Who?" she asked

"Me," replied Drakien

"Really?" Alexis said a bit confused. Drakien just nodded and headed towards the room that was supposedly his. Alexis didn't quite believe him so she sat down and decided to see if anyone else would turn up.

Alexis woke up next morning to a door closing. She sat up and realised she was still on the sofa. Suddenly Drakien walked by dressed in the same clothes as yesterday except this time he had his duel disk on. _He must be sharing the dorm with me then_ she thought with bit of disappointment. Drakien came back out of his room and walked by and noticed Alexis wasn't getting up.

"Aren't you going to lessons?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"What? Its time already?" she asked quickly grabbing her bag.

"Yeah and you may want your duel disk. it's a practical lesson first." he replied.

The two of them made their way down to the duel arena. When Alexis walked in she saw that the whole room was full of students.

"You need to sit over there," Drakien said pointing over to the group of new students. Alexis made her way and sat with the new students that where already there. Five minutes passed by with nothing happening. Suddenly a man with black hair and a beard stood up.

"Welcome all, new and old. To new students welcome, and just so you know I am the Chancellor here and I hope you enjoy your time at North Duel Academy and that you prove that you can make a challenge. To the old students welcome back, I hope you've been studying and practicing. Now down to the point. When you enter North Duel Academy you do written exams first. If you're here then you've passed and have made it into North Duel Academy. You will now be sorted into either Oblisk Blue, Ra Yellow or Slifer Red. These will be your rank. Blue being the highest and Red being the lowest, do not be discouraged if you are in Red some of these students here used to be in Red and some have made me proud. To determine what rank you will be in You will duel a selected person and then rated on your performance. Let the duelling commence!". Names where called out and they walked up to the duelling stage where they faced their opponent. Someone called George was called up. When his opponent walked up Alexis immediately recognised him as Drakien.

"George, your opponent is called Drakien, Good luck and let the duel commence," said the Chancellor

The two boys activated their duel disks and drew their first five cards. They both started with 4000 life points. George started the duel.

"I set one monster face down and end my turn," he set as he set a monster after he drew his first card.

Drakien drew his next card and looked at his hand. He had three monsters, two spells and one trap. His monsters were Red-Eyes B. Dragon, Mirage Dragon and Armed Dragon Lv3. His spell cards were Stamping destruction and Mountain, his only trap card was Dragon's Rage.

"First off all I'll activate my field card Mountain, I then summon my Armed Dragon Lv3 and set two cards. That'll end my turn," Drakien said. George smiled as he looked at the monster Drakien had summoned._ My monster has 1300 attack and that monster has 1200 what's he playing at, ah well his loss_, He thought.

"I flip my Giant Soldier of Stone, Now Giant Soldier of Stone attack his wimpy dragon." George commanded. His Giant Soldier drew its swords made of stone and launched itself at Drakien's Armed Dragon Lv3. However Drakien's dragon launched a punch at it and destroyed George's Giant Soldier of Stone.

"What the .. How did that happen?" George said confused.

"You forgot about my field card Mountain, it gives my dragons an extra 200 attack points so with 1400 attack points my dragon is stronger than you little statue and you now loose 100 life points." Drakien explained. Some of the examiners shook their head in disappointment. George set a monster face down and ended his turn. Drakien drew his next card, the Element Dragon.

"Now with my Armed Dragon Lv3 effect, during my standby phase I can offer it to special summon the Armed Dragon Lv5 from my hand or deck." he said searching his deck for the card. "I'll then summon Element Dragon in attack mode. I'll then enter my battle phase and have my Element Dragon attack your face down.". With a roar Drakien's Element Dragon charged George's face down card which turned out to be Silver Fang which had 800 defence points and with 1700 attack points, Element Dragon wasted Silver Fang.

"Now with Element Dragon's effect if there is a wind type monster on the field I can attack again if it destroys a monster. So now Element Dragon attack him directly," Drakien explained.

"Hold on there isn't a wind type monster on the field." George said. Drakien shook his head.

"My Armed Dragon is a wind type monster," Drakien said. Element Dragon launched its attack at George and inflicted 1700 direct damage, which brought George down to 2200.

"Now Armed Dragon Lv5 attack him and finish him off," Drakien said not even looking at George.

The dragon lifted its huge claw up and brought it down on George and took out the rest of his life points and 500 extra. The holograms faded and Drakien just walked off the stage leaving George with his mouth open. The examiners were shocked as well. They knew how good Drakien was and had asked him go easy on the new student he would verse, but Drakien hadn't taken any heed to the requests. When it came to Alexis she had to verse one of the examiners and she won but only just by 500 points. Alexis was walking out of the arena when she spotted Drakien. She ran up to him.

"Why'd you overkill on him?" she asked.

"I duel only to win," Drakien replied, "I find winning the only satisfaction,"

Alexis followed Drakien the rest of the way back to their dorm. When they arrived their she remembered that Drakien had mentioned lessons.

"Don't we have any lessons today?" she asked

"No," Drakien replied going over to the sofa, sitting down on it.

"Then why did you tell me we had lessons?" she asked

"Felt like it," replied Drakien.

Alexis woke up the next morning to knocking at the main door to their dorm. She got up and went over to it. She opened the door and found a young boy about fifteen years old standing their. He had black hair and had blue eyes.

"Wow your nice, is my brother in?" asked the boy.

"Kazuki come in," said Drakien from behind Alexis. The young boy supposedly called Kazuki squeezed pass Alexis and went up to Drakien.

"Hey bro, you got one nice chick sharing your dorm with you," Kazuki said.

_This can't be his brother, Drakien's too much of a jerk, but then again that kid is a bit rude_ Alexis thought_._

"_Her names Alexis,"_ he said to Kazuki, he then turned to Alexis, _"You may wanna change into your uniform."_

Alexis started to blush and ran into her room to change.


	2. Trying to Make Friends

Trying to Make Friends

Alexis was sitting at her desk watching the teacher present a slideshow on a duel between Yugi and Kaiba and how they predicted some of the cards that they were about to play. She was getting bored of this and her eyes started to wonder. Her eyes fell on Drakien who was drawing something. It was obvious that he had no interest in this slideshow. _I wonder why he's such a jerk, I mean every time I see him he's always alone. It seems every one avoids him, except for that little kid, Kazuki. Is that really his brother or was that the way he speaks? I've got to admit they do look alike__though _she thought. Meanwhile Drakien was concentrating in his drawing. He was drawing one of the monsters he had seen on the slideshow at the beginning, the Dark Magician. He was going to give it to his younger brother seeing as he was a huge fan of the spellcaster type monsters. _What is with that Alexis girl? _he thought. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts of her and tried to concentrate on his picture. At the end of the lesson Drakien was just walking out of the classroom to make his way to the dining hall when he heard a familiar voice.

"Give me back my bag!" shouted the voice. Just then two boys ran round the corner holding a bag which Drakien instantly recognised as Kazuki's. Suddenly the boy who was holding the bag felt something collide with the side of his face. He stumbled back, dropping the bag and holding his jaw and looked to see who had hit him just as Kazuki came round the corner.

"Leave the kid alone," Drakien said as he walked towards the boy.

"Who the fuck are you to give me orders?" the boy asked.

"You new here?" asked Drakien.

"Yeah, so what?" replied the boy.

"Well you obviously decided to pick on the wrong kid today." Drakien said cracking his knuckles.

The kid looked at him not feeling one bit intimidated.

"Thanks Drakien," Kazuki said as he tried to catch his breath. Drakien just grunted his reply.

"Wait…You…Your Drakien Seckuro?" The boy asked suddenly feeling scared due to what he heard about this Drakien person.

"The one and only," He replied as he raised his right fist. The two boys got up and ran as fast as they could and were quickly out of sight. Drakien just chuckled at their reaction and bent down to grab the bag. He then chucked the back to Kazuki, who caught it, before walking off without waiting for any kind of thanks. Alexis, who had came out of the classroom before the incident with Drakien happened, had found out she had left her pencil case back at the classroom and was on her way to pick it up. She didn't notice Drakien walk past her as she made her way to the classroom. She was just about to turn the corner of the corridor that she wanted when she walked into some one, knocking them over.

"Not again, I'm so sorry," She said as she helped the person up. She then noticed it was the boy that had visited Drakien the day before, Kazuki.

"Hey, no problem. Shoulda been watching where I was going," He said he then realized who he was speaking to, "Hey your that girl that's bunking with my big bro," He added with a smile. Alexis scowled at the term bunking but still nodded her head.

"Yep, my names Alexis and you're?" Alexis asked wanting to make sure that she had remembered his name properly.

"Names Kazuki," He said with a smile. It then hit Alexis that Kazuki had just said that Drakien was his brother.

"Wait, Drakien's your big brother?" She asked in surprise. The day she met him, she thought it was the way he spoke when he called Drakien "brother".

"Yeah, most people don't realize it but he's my big bro by three years." Kazuki said smiling, "I gotta get going my mates are waiting for me," He added realizing what the time was. "See ya around," He added as he walked off.

"See you," Alexis said before walking off to collect her pencil case.

Meanwhile Drakien was sitting in his room at his desk. He had his feet resting on the desk while he was leaning back in his chair, while staring at a photo of a young woman who had brown hair and blue eyes. Sighing he straightened himself up and put the picture into the hidden compartment he had made in the draw of his bedside table. He heard the door open and then close indicating that Alexis had arrived from where ever she had gone. He then looked up at the poster of Seto Kaiba that he had on the wall just above the desk. _I will be a duellist just like you _He thought. He then went and grabbed his deck from where it was resting, inside a deck holder that was mounted on his belt, and started looking through the cards. He then pulled out his favourite card and looked at it, smiling. Just then a ghostly figure of a black dragon appeared and seemed to look over Drakien's shoulder. Drakien looked at the dragon and his smile grew.

That night Drakien woke up in a sweat yet again. _Fifth time tonight_ He thought angrily as he pulled off his covers and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and got out. He walked over to the window and opened it. He liked feeling the cool breeze during the night, especially after waking up like this. The breeze usually soothed him and helped him forget things, however tonight he wasn't so lucky and the memories of the nightmares came back. Alexis awoke with a start after hearing a loud bang coming from what she assumed was Drakien's room. She got out of bed and opened her door and looked around the room that was in front of her. She couldn't see anyone and decided to check with Drakien to see if he had heard anything. She walked over to his door and knocked on it. Drakien was surprised when he heard someone knocking on his door but went to open it anyway. The first thing Alexis did was to blush after she had looked Drakien up and realised he was only in his boxers.

"What do you want?" Drakien said bluntly snapping Alexis out of her stupor.

"Urm...Did you hear a loud bang a couple of minutes ago?" She asked.

"No," Drakien lied and he was just about to close the door on her when she started speaking again.

"Are there normally loud bangs during the night?" She asked.

"Not that I know of," Drakien said, wanting nothing but to be left alone.

"So how come your up?" Alexis asked. Drakien sighed before answering her question.

"I can't sleep. Nightmares," He answered.

"Want to talk about them?" Alexis asked.

"No," Drakien replied before closing the door in her face. Alexis jumped at the sound of the slamming door.

"Well that's just plain rude," She said to herself. She then shivered and remembered that she could feel a cold breeze once he opened the door. _That's odd_ She thought as she made her way back to her warm bed. It wasn't long before she fell asleep and explored the land of dreams and for some weird reason, Drakien.

That morning Drakien walked out of the room and made his way to the cafeteria for some breakfast. Upon opening the doors to the cafeteria, everyone in the whole room fell silent once they saw who had arrived. Drakien was used to this and made his way over to the kitchen to get some cereal and a coffee. Once he got his food he made his way over to an empty table and started to eat his cereal. He then pulled out his time table to see what he had for his first lesson and was glad to see he had an art lesson first.

"Awesome, I get to finish my dragons," He said with a slight smile. He then took a sip of his coffee.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Drakien looked up to see who had spoke and saw Alexis standing there holding a tray with her breakfast.

"Hmmm," Was that came from Drakien, hoping that it would make her leave, because he had a feeling that even if he said no, that she would still sit there. He however didn't have his hopes up very high as she done just that.

However she didn't speak with him at all, they just both sat and ate in silence. The fact that someone had decided to sit with Drakien while he ate his breakfast but didn't make any attempt for a conversation was getting to him.

"I take it that your just gonna sit there and not talk?" Drakien asked through gritted teeth. Alexis just nodded in response.

"Why?" Drakien asked feeling a bit confused, didn't people normally sit together and talk?

"Don't know," Alexis replied.

"Why are you even sitting here?" He finally asked.

"Maybe it's because you remind me of someone or..." Alexis replied.

"Or?" Drakien said in an attempt to get her to finish what she was saying.

"Or maybe it's because I'm new here and trying to make some friends," She finished.

"Sorry but your not gonna find one in me," Drakien said and with that he downed the last bit of coffee and left.

_Fuck her if she wants me to be friends with her, I don't need them now and wont need them at all_ He thought to himself as he walked down the corridors, making his way to the art classroom.

Back in the cafeteria Alexis had noticed the smell of coffee coming from the cup that Drakien had left and noticed that coffee wasn't on the menu for students. She had also noticed how black he was beneath both eyes and realised that he must have slept very badly last night.

"Shame he didn't let me help, you never know I may have been able to do something about it," She said to herself as she shrugged her shoulders. After finishing her breakfast she walked out the cafeteria and made her way to her first class: Duel Theory's.


	3. Now That's Just Rude

Now That's Just Rude

Drakien sat there in a foul mood. He had once again stayed up all night due to the fact that he had drunk too much coffee and then whenever he did manage to get to sleep he was plagued by nightmares. All he wanted to do was get through the day and then hopefully knock himself out some how when he got back to his room.

"Hey Drakien, I challenge you to a duel," Said a voice. Drakien looked up at the right of him and found a black haired girl looking at him. Drakien stood up from where he sat on the bench and looked directly into her green eyes.

"Fine," He said as he activated his duel disk. The girl looked at his disk in amazement. It had a dragonish feature to it, like it was made out of dragon scales.

"Nice disk," She said as she activated hers and placed her deck in it, as she looked at the black duel disk that was on Drakiens wrist. Drakien didn't reply but drew his first five cards to make his hand. "I'll go first then," She said as she drew her first card.

"Come fourth X-Head Cannon," She said as a machine with a beaked head and two cannons either side of it appeared and no legs appeared, floating. "I'll then set two cards and end my turn," She added. Drakien drew his first card and looked at it.

"I'll set a card face down and set a monster, that'll do me," Drakien said, not showing any emotion.

"So Drakien what do you think of my monster?" The girl asked as she drew her next card. Drakien just sighed, ignoring her question. _I knew he wasn't friendly but to not answer a question, that's just plain rude_ She thought as she looked at the card she drew.

"I now summon Ancient Gear Solider in attack mode," She said causing a monster created from rusting metal, with a gun on its right arm to appear.

"Attack! I Dare You Girl," Drakien said smiling evilly at her.

"The names not Girl, it's Sakura, god don't you have any manners?" She snapped back. She hated people without any manners. "And fine I'll attack with Ancient Gear Solider and due to his effect you can't activate a trap or spell cards until the end of the damage step," She added with a smile. The ancient soldier lifted it right arm and took aim at where Drakiens face down monster was. It then took a shot at the monster. The monster turned out to be a Masked Dragon.

"And now with my dragon's effect I can special summon a dragon type monster with 1500 attack of less and I choose The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave in defence mode," Drakien said smiling, he knew her monster couldn't attack him now seeing as his monster had 2000 defence points while her monster only had 1800 attack points. Sakura growled at the defence she had just allowed him to build, so she ended her turn. Drakien drew his next card and smiled again.

"I summon Red-Eyes Black Chick in attack mode," He said as he placed the card on his disk. Just then a small red egg appeared. It then started to hatch. The first thing that Sakura saw was a pair of glowing red eyes that shone through a hole that had been made. Then the egg shell shattered to reveal a tiny black dragon with bright red eyes.

"Aww he's so cute," Sakura said as she checked out the dragon, "But why did you summon a monster with only 800 attack points?" She asked. Drakien chuckled at the question.

"Because he's about to grow up," Drakien said causing Sakura to give him a strange look, "I now offer my Red-Eyes Black Chick with its effect to special summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The little black dragon suddenly glowed and then grew in size, becoming stronger. Sakura stared at the meaner looking dragon that was before her.

"Now Red-Eyes, attack her Ancient Gear Solider with Inferno Fire Blast!" Drakien commanded. The dragon opened its mouth and fired a volley of dark red fire balls at the mechanical solider causing it to disintegrate. The attack also took out a chunk of Sakuras life points as well bring her down from 4000 to 2900. _Shit_ She thought_ I wasn't expecting that._ She drew her next card after Drakien ended his turn and looked at the card she just drew and her hand. She then looked at Drakien to try and figure out what his plan was. It was a known fact that Drakien changed his deck after every duel with some of the cards in his side deck so it wasn't possible to guess what he was doing.

"I switch X-Head Cannon to defence mode and set card and a monster face down," She said placing the monster face down on her disk, "I'll then end my turn." Drakien smiled at the move she had taken.

"Don't think that your life points are safe just because you put monster in defence mode cus I activate my face down card, the trap card Dragon's Rage. If your monsters defence points are lower than my monsters attack points, when I attack I can inflict the difference as damage to your life points." Drakien said smirking. Sakura just looked at him, eyes wide with shock. _It's a good thing I have my face down card_ She thought.

"I'll now summon my Mirage Dragon in attack mode," Drakien noticed her lips curve slightly. _She obviously doesn't now my dragon's effect then cus I'm guessing that face down cards a trap card_ Drakien thought.

"Now my Mirage Dragon attack her X-Head Cannon!" Drakien said pointing at the machine. The dragon started to glide at the machine gaining speed.

"I activate my tra…." Sakura managed to say before realising that her trap card wasn't activating even though she was pressing the button to do so. "What?" She said in confusion. Just then Mirage Dragon took a swipe at X-Head Cannon with its tail as it glided over the machine, destroying it and inflicting 100 points of damage to Sakura due to Dragon's Rage. _Why didn't it activate? _She asked herself mentally. It wasn't until Drakien started to laugh that she knew he had something to do with it. He stopped laughing when she glared at him but kept a smile on his face.

"Mirage Dragon," Was all he said.

"It has an effect?" Sakura asked. Drakien nodded.

"It stops you from activating any trap cards during my battle phase, which is why your face down wouldn't activate," He explained.

"Shit," Sakura said. She then embraced herself for the next attack.

"Now Red-Eyes! Attack the face down monster!" The black dragon roared and Sakura noticed that it seemed to act differently from the last attack; it's seemed to be more furious, almost as if it was in a rage. She then realised it was due to the trap card that Drakien had in play. The dragon then launched its attack but it wasn't before a tiny blue scorpion struck the dragon as it took a swipe. The attack brought her down to only 200 life points due to the fact that her monster defence was only 300 compared to the dragons mighty 2400 attack. Sakura smiled as her monsters effect took control.

"Now in two turns your Red-Eyes Black Dragon will be destroyed due to my Steel Scorpions effect," She said knowing that it was going to be a miracle if she survived her next turn. Drakien sneered at her monster effect, set a face down card and ended his turn. Sakuras draw was what she needed.

"I'll activate the spell card, Swords of Revealing alight, stopping your attacks for three turns." Sakura said as bright swords of light barred Drakiens monster, hoping that Drakien would realise that this meant the end of his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. She was however surprised to she Drakien smiling evilly again. "Turn end," She said feeling a little bit freaked out. Drakien drew his next card but didn't bother to look at it.

"I'll activate my face down card, the spell card Inferno Fire Blast." Drakien said as he pressed the button to activate that certain card. "Whenever I have a Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field, I can inflict its original attack points as direct damage, however the selected Red-Eyes cannot attack but that's okay with me as it can't attack anyway and plus it finishes you off," Drakien explained, "Now Fire!" He commanded. The dragon launched its attack which hit Sakura and brought her life points to zero. Drakien then packed his cards away once the holograms faded and then walked away feeling slightly more cheerful than he had before the duel had started. Sakura sighed at her lose.

"Oh well, there always the next duel," She said as she picked up her bag, which was covered in dangling gears, and shouldered it. As she was leaving she noticed a blond haired girl looking around as if she was lost.

"Hey there, are you okay?" She shouted as she ran over to see if the girl was okay.


	4. A Lot of Problems

A Lot of Problems

Alexis woke up at the start of her first weekend at NDA feeling happier than she had been when she first started. It was partly due to the new friend she had made. She had been able to find out a little bit more about Drakien from her friend and it turned out that Drakien wasn't the most friendliest person to have met on the first day and that she should try and avoid him if possible. After having a shower and getting dressed she made her way to the cafeteria for breakfast where she met her new friend.

"Hey Alexis," Her friend greeted.

"Hey Sakura, how you doing this morning?" Alexis asked. She had met Sakura when she was looking around the academy, trying to find out and remember where everything was. The two of them sat down at a table and started to eat their breakfast and go over their plans for the weekend. It wasn't long before Drakien entered the room, once again making the room go quiet. As Drakien made his way over to the kitchen area to get his breakfast, Alexis couldn't take her eyes off him. She had noticed how tired he looked and she had a bit of an urge to find out. It wasn't until she heard Sakura laughing that she turned away from looking at him.

"What's so funny?" Alexis asked.

"Just the way you were looking at Drakien," Sakura replied chuckling.

"What about it?" Alexis asked feeling confused.

"I think you were probably the only one to do something like it," Sakura said before taking a sip of her orange juice. "I just remembered, you never told me who your room mate was," She added as she put the cup down.

"Oh…it's Drakien," Alexis said feeling a bit nervous.

"What!?" Sakura said looking at Alexis in shock.

"Yeah I know," Alexis said as she stabbed her bacon.

"Well seeing as I'm in a room on my own why don't we see if I can move into your room?" Sakura suggested, "That way you won't be with that jerk on your own," She added with a smile.

"I'd like that," Alexis said smiling.

Meanwhile Drakien was sitting at a table on his own once again, making his way through a pot of coffee. His body was used to this kind of treatment, the staying up all night for about a week and consuming litres of coffee, ever since he was little. He was going through some cards that he had recently got from one of the teachers for some homework. He was working with some cards he had been given for an assignment where he had to create a deck that would work without the use of trap cards. After finishing the pot of coffee and packing the cards away having decided on what cards he was going to use, he made his way back to his room unaware of the plans that his room mate was making. After stopping off to collect his duel disk, he went to the duel arena. As he made it to the arena, his PDA went off. He looked at it and found that he had a message from the Chancellor. He read the message which was asking for him to go to the Chancellors office to discuss something. Drakien sighed angrily and made his way there. When he got to the office he ignored the secretary and opened the door without knocking. Alexis and the girl that he had duelled on Wednesday was there as well.

"Ah, Drakien, glad to see you could make it," The Chancellor said smiling.

"What'd I do?" Drakien asked.

"Do? Nothing as far as I'm aware," The Chancellor replied.

"Then why did you want me?" Drakien asked feeling confused. He normally had to go see the Chancellor when he had done something that he shouldn't have done.

"I asked you here for your opinion."

"My opinion?" Drakien feeling even more confused. _What's he playing at?_ He thought.

"Yes Alexis and Sakura here are asking for Sakura to move in, and I said it was okay as long as it was okay with any other room mates, and seeing as you're the only room mate that's sharing with Alexis, I need to know if it's okay with you," The Chancellor explained.

"Don't really care, as long as they leave me alone," Drakien said.

"Well there's your answer," The Chancellor said as he clasped his hands together. Drakien walked out the room without being dismissed.

"You should've waited to see if…..Hey listen to me," The secretary said as Drakien walked by once again ignoring her. Alexis and Sakura thanked the Chancellor and ran off to go and get Sakuras stuff. It wasn't long before Alexis spotted Drakien turning a corner opposite the one that led to Sakuras room.

"I'll be there in a minute to help, just gotta go do something," Alexis said once they reached the turning. Sakura nodded and made her way to her room while Alexis took the corridor that Drakien took. She ran after him and managed to catch up with him.

"Drakien!" She said causing him to turn around and look at who had spoke to him.

"What?" He snapped.

"I just want to say thank you for letting Sakura move in," Alexis said with a smile. Drakien didn't return the smile and turned around and continued to walk on.

"Whatever," He said as he walked off. Alexis noticed that on his left wrist he had his duel disk on and it reminded her of something she had seen but she couldn't place it. She then shook her had and turned around and made her way to Sakuras room to help her move. Drakien was shocked. It was the first time in ages that someone had thanked him except his brother. He shook his head and set off to find an opponent.

By the end of the day, Sakura and Alexis had managed to get Sakura settled in. She was sharing the room that Alexis was in. At the moment they were both lying on their own beds when all of a sudden they heard a door slam which was shortly followed by another door slamming.

"I guess he's back," Alexis said sighing, "And in a bad mood,"

"Really?" Sakura asked, "You mean to say he can be even worse?" she added jokingly. Alexis just looked at Sakura with an eyebrow raised causing Sakura to laugh. It wasn't long before Alexis joined in. Drakien was getting even more annoyed, only just hearing the two girls laughing. He put down his duel disk and laid down on his bed and looked at the ceiling. He hadn't been able to find an opponent all day and it had really pissed him off. He then opened the draw in his bedside table and opened the secret compartment and pulled out the photo. He wasn't able to hold back the first tear that slipped down his check but he managed to hold back the rest. For the first time this week Drakien was able to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

Drakien woke up suddenly. He lifted his hand and found that he still had the photo in his hand. He quickly put it back in its place in the bedside table before looking at the clock.

"5:30?" He said sounding surprised. He had managed to sleep for at least nine hours. Suddenly he remembered the dream that he had. It was different from the usual ones. It had a girl in it but he couldn't see her face, he however felt that her voice sounded familiar. He shook his head and decided not to pay any more attention to the dream, so he went over to his desk and pulled out a maintenance kit for his duel disk and started to check his disk over. Alexis woke up at 7 o'clock. She got changed and made her way into the lounge area of her dorm where she found Drakien sitting on one of the sofas looking at the ceiling, which shocked her a bit seeing as she barely ever saw him in the lounge area.

"Good morning," She said smiling at him. Drakien looked up at her, sneered at her and then went back to looking at the ceiling. Even though it had only been a week, Alexis was starting to get annoyed with the way Drakien was acting. She shook her head and left the room to go and get some breakfast. _Why does she event try talking to me? _Drakien thought as he stared off into space. After about an hour and a half, a thought crossed his mind and he shrugged at the idea deciding to go along with it seeing as he was bored. He then got up and set off to find Alexis. He soon found her outside sitting on a patch of grass just watching people go by. He walked over to her and once his shadow loomed over her, she looked up to find him looking at her.

"Hi," She said feeling a bit awkward.

"What's your interest in me?" He asked. Alexis was a bit confused by the question.

"What do you mean?" She asked, hoping to shed some light on the situation.

"Why do you always try to talk to me whenever you see me?"

"I'm just trying to be polite that's all," Alexis replied.

"Fair enough but from now on I don't want you to talk to me at all okay," Drakien said before turning around and starting to walk off. Alexis stood up feeling a bit angry.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouted. Drakien stopped in his tracks.

"A lot of things," He replied before continuing to walk. This really surprised Alexis, she wasn't expecting anything like that.

"Like what?" She said but it wasn't loud enough for Drakien to hear.


	5. Another Challenge

Another Challenge

Drakien stood at a cliff edge, leaning against a tree. He couldn't believe that he had just said that to her. Why did he do it? He then turned around and hit the tree, the bark grazing the skin on his knuckles. Alexis was sitting on one of the sofas in the lounge area reading a book. She heard the door open and looked over to see who had come through the door. The sight shocked her. Drakien came in with his sleeves rolled up and blood trailing down his arms.

"What the hell happened?" She asked scrambling over to him.

"Nothing that concerns you," He said as he made his way to the bathroom. Alexis stood in the doorway to the bathroom and watched Drakien as he turned on the taps and put his arms underneath the running water. He sighed noticing that she hadn't moved from her position.

"Your not gonna move are you?" He asked already knowing the answer.

"No, not unless you either tell me what happened or at least let me help you," She said firmly. Alexis shifted form her position in the doorway and made her way over to cabinet that was mounted on the wall and pulled out the necessary equipment.

"I take it, you wont tell me what happened then?" Alexis asked as she gently cleaned the blood off his hands.

"Nope," Drakien stubbornly said after a split second. He was feeling something that he wasn't used to feeling, a feeling that he couldn't describe as he felt her skin on his. Alexis sighed at the response he gave her but continued to wash the blood. Once the majority of the blood had been washed away she gently dried his hands with a towel. Wanting to make sure that he wouldn't catch any infections she pulled out the antiseptic and put some onto some cotton wool.

"This may sting," She warned before putting the cotton wool to his wounds. She expected him to recoil but it never came.

"I'm used to the sting," He said as if he could read her mind, answering her question.

"You've done this before then?" She asked as she finished off with the antiseptic. Drakien sighed before responding.

"Yeah," He said expecting her to ask why but the question never came. She started to wrap bandages around the wounds, which didn't take long for her to do. He stood up and left the room after helping her clean the things away (which he done only because she had helped him). Just before he exited the room he stopped in the doorway.

"Thanks," He muttered before walking off without waiting to hear a response from her. Alexis was shocked by what had just happened. He had actually thanked her even though he didn't really want her help. She went into her room leaving the book that she had been reading before Drakien had arrived. Meanwhile Drakien was still thinking over two things, 1) why had he thanked her when he was trying to push her away and 2) what was that feeling he felt when he could feel her skin on his. He wanted to touch her skin again but that wouldn't be advisable seeing as he was trying to distance himself from her. He sat down on his bed sighing in frustration. The ghostly dragon appeared again and growled softly.

"I don't know mate," He said to the dragon, "I don't know what to about her, she makes me act a little different whenever she's around," He added. The dragon shifted it head so that it was looking at the door.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure she can't see duel spirits," He assured the dragon, "I would have seen hers already by now if she could see them,". However the dragon disappeared. "Bloody duel spirits," Drakien muttered. _It must have heard someone in the lounge _He thought as he clenched his fist making the bandages turn a faint colour of red. He then moved over to his desk and pulled out his sketch pad and opened it up at a clean page. He grabbed a pencil and positioned it over the page ready to start the image. However Drakien couldn't think of what to draw. It seemed his mind was too focused on the memory of Alexis' skin.

Sakura had just walked into the lounge after noticing little red spots on the floor just outside the door. She looked around to see if she could find and more on the floor and found some leading to the bathroom. When she looked in the bathroom she couldn't find a trace of the red dots.

"Lexis, do you know anything about these red dots?" She asked as she entered the room she shared with Alexis.

"Oh don't worry about it," She said. She then set about to maintaining her duel disk. Sakura shook her head at how Alexis had dismissed the subject so quickly but didn't bother to question it further.

"Anyway, I've heard that there's gonna be a new student who's arriving from Southern Duel Academy," Sakura said sounding excited. Alexis turned to face Sakura.

"Do you know anything about them?" Alexis asked.

"Hmmm, let me see, I think they said that's it's a boy, roughly about our age," Sakura said trying to remember what she had heard.

"Is that all?" Alexis asked.

"That's all I overheard." Sakura replied sighing. Just then Alexis' PDA message tone went off. She grabbed her PDA and looked at the message.

"Oh," Was all she said.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Someone's challenged me to a duel, but I don't know who," Alexis said looking Sakura in confusion.

"I think you'd best go, even if it was an accident," Sakura said. Alexis nodded and packed her maintenance equipment away. She then picked up her duel disk and left for the arena with Sakura. The two arrived at the arena and found a person standing on one of the arenas, looking at them.

"Ah glad you could make it," He said looking at Alexis.

"Kazuki?" Alexis said wondering what the boy wanted with her.

"Yup let's go," He said activating his duel disk. Alexis walked up to the arena and done the same.

"Why do you want to duel me?" She asked as she drew her first five cards.

"I'm just curious as to how other people duel," Kazuki said with a smile as he drew his first five cards.

"Ladies first," He said motioning for her to start the duel. Alexis drew her first card.

"I summon Etoile Cyber in attack mode. I then set two face downs and end my turn," Alexis said as she placed her cards. She then ended her turn. Kazuki drew his first card.

"I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode," Kazuki said as a black and white robed magician appeared on the field. "I'll then activate the spell card Magical Blast which inflicts 200 points of direct damage for each spellcaster on my side of the field. Also thanks to my Magicians effect he get a spell counter. I'll end my turn," Kazuki said smiling. Alexis was confused, he had played a higher attack point monster but didn't attack and he also didn't play any face down cards. She drew her next card and smiled.

"I'll summon Cyber Petit Angel in attack which activates its effect, letting me get a Machine Angel Ritual spell card and add it to my hand," Alexis said as she searched her deck for the card.

"I'll then activate Machine Angel Ritual offering the two monsters on the field and one in my hand to which the total of the levels equals eight and summon Cyber Angel Dakini." She said playing the card. "And now due to Dakinis effect you have to destroy a monster you control," Kazuki shrugged his shoulders as he put his Skilled Dark Magician in the graveyard. "Now Dakini attack his life points directly," She commanded while pointing at Kazuki. The angel charged at Kazuki and took a swipe at him across the chest. This attack brought his life points down to 1300. He smiled after the attack, _Finally someone else who is a challenge_ He thought to himself. "Turn end," Alexis said feeling confident that the duel was hers.

"Now due to Magical Blasts Effect I can add the card to my hand instead of drawing from my deck during the draw phase. I'll then summon another Skilled Dark Magician. Next I'll activate the spell card Double Summon allowing me to normal summon another monster and I choose my Skilled White Magician." Another robed magician appeared along side the Skilled Dark Magician, "And once again my Skilled Dark gains a spell counter. I'll then activate the spell card Magical Dimension which means that when I have a spellcaster type monster on the field I can offer one monster one my side of the field to special summon a spellcaster from my hand and destroy one of your monster if I choose. So I'll offer my Skilled White Magician to special summon the Dark Magician, I'll also activate two spell cards Magical Blast and Magic Formula. So I inflict 400 points of damage seeing as I have two spellcasters on the field bringing you down to 3400 and Magic Formula increases my Dark Magicians attack by 700. Skilled Dark Magician also gets two more spell counters due to the fact that I activated two spell cards and now I use it's effect by offering it along with three spell counters to special summon another Dark Magician. I'll now activate another Magical Blast inflicting another 400 points of damage bringing you to 3000 life points." Kazuki smiled as he looked at his two Dark Magicians. _I'll destroy that pathetic Cyber Angel and then attack her directly with my Dark Magicians._ He thought .

"Now I shall have the Dark Magician equipped with Magic Formula to attack your Cyber Angel Dakini with Dark Magic Attack!" Kazuki ordered. The Magician closed his book and pointed his staff at Cyber Angel Dakini and then launched its attack. Alexis knew that she wouldn't be able to stop Kazuki from winning the duel with the cards she had at the moment and decided it was now or never.

"I'll activate my trap card Doble Passé causing both our monsters to attack the opposing player directly which will bring both our life points to zero," she said with a smile. The two monsters attack both the duellists. Once her life points reached zero Alexis deactivated her duel disk, thanked Kazuki for the duel and then left leaving Kazuki where he was standing.

"Oh she's definitely gonna be another challenge," He said to himself as he watched her retreating form.


	6. His First Blush

His First Blush

Drakien was walking away form the duel arena, just as Alexis had played her trap card. _Why did he challenge her?_ Drakien asked himself mentally. He shook his head to rid the thought from his mind and made his way outside. Once he exited the building the dragon spirit appeared beside him and took flight. Drakien shook his head at the dragon and it's unusual playfulness. He watched it diving and rising as he walked along the path. _Red-Eyes what are you up to?_ He thought almost cracking a smile. He found a quite place and laid down on the grass watching his duel spirit playing in the sky. He lifted his right hand and looked at the bandages on his hand. He suddenly heard a snap and sat up at the sound. He turned to face the direction it came from and found his brother leaning on against a tree.

"Oh it's you," Drakien said as he laid back down.

"That's a nice way to greet your brother," Kazuki said as he walked over to where Drakien was and sat down next to him. "Did you like what you saw?" He asked.

"It showed me enough of what I wanted to know," Drakien replied.

"To be honest I'm surprised it went smoothly, I mean I normally have to befriend them before they comply," Kazuki said.

"I know what you mean," Drakien muttered.

"Anyway I'd best be off now," Kazuki said getting up, "See ya around," he added before walking off. Drakien sat up, wondering what he should do now. He was bored and it seemed his dragon had had enough as well seeing as he couldn't see it anymore. He stood up and decided to go find someone to duel. Just as he took his first step his PDA went off signalling he had a message. Drakien sighed after reading the message and went off to make his way to the Chancellors office. He once again barged into the office ignoring the secretary.

"What now?" Drakien asked as he stood in the doorway.

"Drakien, I have a job for you," The Chancellor said.

"What?" Drakien asked confused.

"I would like you to look after the new transfer student when he arrives,"

"Me to do what?"

"You heard," The Chancellor said sternly. Drakien sighed, he knew he wouldn't be able to worm his way out of this one.

"When is he arriving?" Drakien asked. The Chancellor cracked a smile.

"Next week on Saturday," He said as he got up and made his way over to his own coffee machine. "That will be all," He added. Drakien nodded to himself and left the office.

The next day Drakien got up from the seat he was sitting on and packed his bag ready for the days lessons before making his way to his first class of the day. The teacher was talking about cards that were similar like the Amazoness cards. He was talking about two specific cards at the moment.

"So if a duellist has a Blue-Eyes White Dragon it is meant to symbolise that the duellist has power while if they hold a Red-Eyes Black Dragon the duellist has potential." He said. Drakien was listening to this part and realised it was nothing really important.

"That means I have power and potential," He muttered to himself as he continued with his doodle that was on the edge of the work he was supposed to be doing. He could sense that someone was looking at him, but then again he was used to be looked at, with people talking behind his back, insulting him. He didn't care, he had a reason for his actions and wasn't going to change just so he could fit in. However curiosity got the better of him, so he turned around to see who was looking at him. He found Alexis looking at him. He turned back round confused as to what he had seen. She hadn't been looking at him in hate or anything like that. It looked like she was interested in something. He gently shook his head and went back to working on his work. As the week wore on he noticed that Alexis was looking at him quite a lot, whether it be in class or in their dorm, sometimes smiling at him. At the moment, Alexis, Sakura and himself were sitting in the lounge part of their dorm. The girls where working on some homework while Drakien was sitting on a seat with his drawing pad open. He didn't know why but he had started drawing the girls as they sat there working. He had started Alexis first. He was looking up at her to see what he could either start next or improve on what he had already started. Alexis turned around and saw Drakien looking at her. He started to blush as he wasn't expecting to be caught. He hastily packed his stuff and went into his room. He looked at the mirror as he passed it and noticed he looked red. Chucking his stuff onto his bed, he walked over to the mirror for a closer inspection.

"I'm blushing?" He said sounding confused. Shaking his head, he punched the wall forgetting that his hands still had not recovered. Pain shot through his arm as his fist stayed in the place where it had made contact with the wall. Why had he reacted that way at being caught looking at someone. He then came to the conclusion that it was because for some weird reason that person didn't think anything bad of him. He wanted to calm down a bit so he grabbed his duel disk and made his way to the arena leaving the lounge part of the dorm as quickly and quietly as he could, not wanting to be questioned about his reaction.

It wasn't long before he was starting a duel. He was up against a boy called Ryu Kantenchi. A blond haired person who was considered Drakiens rival by the other students. Drakien didn't actually think much of Ryu so he didn't consider him a rival. The only reason Ryu duelled Drakien was because he wanted to be the best and Drakien was considered the best in the school, so Ryu had to beat Drakien in order to be the best. Drakien looked at the five cards in his hand. Ryu meanwhile took the first turn.

"I summon Queens Knight in attack mode. I'll then activate the spell card Legendary Sword, equipping it to Queens Knight and increasing her attack and defence points by 300 bring her to 1800 attack and 1900 defence. I'll then set a card face down. Turn end." Ryu said in an overconfident tone. Drakien drew his first card and made his move.

"I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode. I'll then activate the spell card Stamping Destruction destroying your Legendary Sword seeing as I have a face up dragon on the field and its effect also inflicts 500 points of direct damage." Drakien said as he watched his purple sapphire covered dragon break the sword. Ryu cursed as he watched his life points drop to 3500. "Now Luster Dragon attack his monster.". The dragon roared and attacked the female knight. Luster Dragon with 1900 attack destroyed Queens Knight which only had 1500 attack points and 400 points of damage was inflicted to Ryu. "I'll set a card and end my turn." Drakien said as he placed a card in the spell and trap zone. Ryu drew his next card and smiled. Just the card he wanted. "First of all I'll activate my trap card Birthright, which allows me to special summon one normal type monster form the graveyard, and seeing as I only have one monster, say hello to my Queens Knight. Next I'll summon the card I just drew which just so happens to be Kings Knight. Now his effect kicks in because whenever Kings Knight is summoned while there is a .." Ryu said before Drakien interrupted him.

"..Queens Knight on the field, you can special summon a Jacks Knight from your hand or deck. I know," Drakien said in a bored tone. _Now will he activate it?_ He thought to himself. Ryu wasn't sure what to do, he had three monsters on the field but he couldn't fuse them together as he didn't have polymerization in his hand.

"I set two cards and end my turn," Ryu said as he watched Drakien.

"You don't have it then," Drakien said as he smiled evilly at Ryu, drawing his next card. "I'll activate the spell card Foolish Burial sending my Tri-Horned Dragon to the graveyard."

"Heh?" Ryu said confused as to why he would send such a high levelled monster to the graveyard. Then it hit him. "Shit," He muttered, _He's gonna summon it from the graveyard_ He thought.

"I'll then summon Exploder Dragon in attack mode." A blue dragon holding a spiked bomb appeared next to the Luster Dragon. "Now Luster Dragon attack his Queens Knight!" Drakien commanded, pointing at the female knight. The dragon attacked the knight and destroyed her inflicting another 400 points of damage to Ryu bringing him down to 2700. "I'll end," Drakien said. Ryu drew his next card. _Sweet Trap Hole, seeing as he's got two monsters on the field he's bound to offer them to summon a stronger monster_ He thought with a huge smile.

"First I'll activate the spell card Nightmare Steelcage, stopping both of us attacking until the end of your second turn since this card was activated. I'll then set a card face down and end my turn." Ryu said as he watched Drakiens reaction, which wasn't much of one, through the domed cage he was in. Drakien drew his next card.

"I'll offer my two monsters on the field to summon the Felgrand Dragon." Drakien said as the huge gold and black dragon appeared. Just then it fell into the ground.

"I activate my trap card Trap Hole destroying any monster that was summoned with 1000 attack points or more and seeing as your dragon has 2800, I'd say it falls into that category. Drakien just shrugged at the move and ended his turn. The reaction scared Ryu, why had he not acted worried. Ryu drew the next card and looked at his hand.

"I summon Gilford the Legend by offering the two cards on my side of the field and with his effect equip Legendary Sword to him from the graveyard. Try and beat that!" Ryu said, confidently ending his turn. He had a feeling he was going to win seeing as Drakien had two powerful cards in his graveyard. Drakien drew and smiled. I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted allowing me to bring back my Felgrand Dragon back from the graveyard. Also it's effect kicks in. You see when Felgrand Dragon was sent to the graveyard from the field and then special summoned from the graveyard it gains the ability to increase its attack by the level of a monster in my graveyard." Drakien explained.

"Tri…Tri-Horned Dragon," Said stunned.

"That's right I choose my Tri-Horned Dragon. Seeing as it's level eight my Felgrand Dragon gains 800 attack points bringing it to 3600. Now I'll activate two Stamping Destructions from my hand destroying your Nightmare Steelcage and Legendary Sword and inflicting a total of 1000 points leaving you on 1700. Now Felgrand Dragon attack his Gilford the Legend!" Drakien said once again smiling evilly. The dragon roared before flying over to Ryus monster and using it's powerful arms, it ripped the monster in half. The attack brought Ryu down to 1000 life points.

"Crap, shit, fuck," Ryu muttered as he drew his card after Drakien ended his turn.

"I activate Pot of Greed allowing me to draw two more cards." Ryu said as played the card and drew the two new cards.

"Perfect. Now I'll activate the Black Luster Ritual spell card and offer the Gilford the Lightning in my hand to summon the Black Luster Soldier in defence mode." Ryu said as the soldier appeared holding its shield in a defensive manner. Drakien snorted at the attempt at a defence as he drew his next card.

"I summon Infernal Dragon in attack mode." Drakien said playing the card causing a dark purple dragon with blades on its tail to appear.

"Now Felgrand Dragon destroy his soldier!" The dragon roared and bite the soldier destroying Black Luster Soldier with its powerful jaws, "Now Infernal Dragon take out the rest of his life points!" The dragon growled before taking flight and charging at Ryu. After the impact Ryu cursed and walked off sulking. _What a waste of a duellist Drakien thought as he watched Ryu walk off in a strop._


	7. The New Student

The New Student

The week passed too quickly for Drakien and it was now Saturday. He lay there on his bed, topless, staring at the ceiling, his eyes wanting to close, so his body could fall asleep. But he wasn't allowing his body to. He wasn't going to watch it happen again. He was trying to keep his mind occupied but couldn't find anything to occupy it with. Just then there was a knock at his door. Groaning he got up and walked to the door and opened it. Alexis stood there looking a bit uncomfortable.

"What?" He asked bluntly.

"Urm, I was wondering if you'd like to come to the shop with me and Sakura," Alexis said looking at him in a pleading manner while also blushing slightly.

"No," He said before slamming the door in her face.

"Why?" He heard her ask from behind the door. Just then Drakien's PDAs message tone went off. He opened it up and read the message which was from the Chancellor asking for his presence. He grabbed a shirt from where it lay on the back of a chair and put it on before walking out. Drakien however didn't like the journey to the Chancellors office as he was walking with Alexis and Sakura seeing as the Chancellors office was on the way to the shop. Drakien was walking next to Alexis, who was next to Sakura. The two girls where talking but Drakien was ignoring them, whishing that there was some other route he could've taken to the Chancellors office. Once he arrived at the door which led to the office, Alexis bid farewell to him and then walked off with Sakura. Drakien walked into the Chancellors office in his usual manner and found the Chancellor sitting at his desk talking to a boy he didn't recognize. The boy turned around to see who had come through the door and looked at Drakien.

"Hi," He said getting up. He then held out a hand, offering Drakien to shake it. Drakien looked at the boy. Drakien guessed he was just a bit shorter than himself and he had brown eyes and hair. He eyes seemed to give of the feeling that this person was full of energy. He was also wearing a black jacket with a purple trim and blue jeans. Underneath his jacket he was wearing a shirt that had flames around the bottom. Drakien ignored the hand the boy was holding out and looked at the Chancellor.

"Is this the person?" He asked. The Chancellor nodded.

"The name's Pyro." The boy said still smiling though his hand was now back down at his side. Drakien sneered at Pyro and then looked back at the Chancellor.

"Where's his room?" He asked, wanting to get this over and done with.

"I was just about to tell you," The Chancellor said standing up and then walking round his desk so that he was facing Drakien. "He's sharing the room with you," He said.

"Your shitting me," Drakien said in disbelief.

"Do I look like I'm joking Drakien?" The Chancellor asked. Drakien didn't answer but he just nodded.

"Fine," He said before turning to face Pyro, "Let's go then," He said as he started to walk out the room.

"Oh Adrian," Pyro cringed at hearing his real name. Both the boys turned around to face the Chancellor, "I hope you find your time hear an experience. If you have any problems just ask Drakien." The Chancellor said just before Pyro got to the door. "I'm sure he'll be glad to help," He added looking directly at Drakien.

"Of course," Drakien said forcing a smile. The two then both turned and left the room. Just as the door closed, Pyro started talking.

"Urm, please call me Pyro, I can't stand my first name," Pyro said as they walked to their room carrying Pyros bags. Drakien just ignored Pyro as he continued to talk, wondering what type of year he was in for now that his whole dorm was full. Why did it have to be him. They finally got to there room and just as the doors closed Drakien snapped.

"Will you SHUT the fuck UP," He said, he was sick of having to listen to Pyro talk to himself just because Drakien ignored him.

"Ooh somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Pyro said as he walked into the room he had to share with Drakien. Drakien clenched his fists, wanting to hit Pyro more than anything at the moment. Drakien somehow managed to refrain from hitting Pyro and walked out the dorm and left to find someone to duel so he could release his frustration. Pyro had no idea that he was sharing the dorm with two other people, especially girls.

Alexis and Sakura arrived outside their dorm. Pyro was standing inside the lounge part in just a towel after having a shower. He heard the door open and started to speak

"You know, those showers are really good Drak…" He said turning around only to find the two girls staring at him with their mouths open.

"Who…who are you?" Alexis finally asked after recovering from the shock, "And what are you doing in our dorm?" She added. Pyro however didn't hear the questions. He was too busy looking at the black haired girl next to the one who had just spoken. Something about her seemed familiar. Alexis repeated her questions, this time a bit louder and caught Pyros attention.

"Erm, this is my dorm room and the names Pyro," He replied while still looking at Sakura. He then realised he was just in a towel and ran into his room to get changed.

"What the fuck?" Sakura said.

"I don't know," Alexis replied. They both then walked into the dorm and sat down on the sofa, waiting for Pyro. Drakien had managed to find a person to duel and beat them within seven turns and was now walking up to the dorm room. He opened the door and found the girls sitting one side of the room and Pyro sitting at the other side, his eyes darting around looking at the room as if he was insane.

"Drakien, maybe you could shed some light," Alexis said standing up. "Do you know this person?" She asked.

"I wish I didn't," Drakien replied walking over to his door.

"What's he doing in here?" Sakura asked also standing up.

"He lives in this dorm as of today," Drakien replied as he turned the door handle. The girls looked at Drakien surprised as they knew Pyro would be sharing the room with Drakien.

"What flavour is the pie here?" Pyro asked. Everyone just looked at him. "What? Everyone else was asking questions," Pyro added. Drakien just smacked his head against the door, Sakura chuckled a bit and Alexis just looked at him in disbelief. It wasn't long before the two girls and Pyro were talking, getting to know each other better. They talked about where they came from, old schools and friends, duels and habits.

"Now I know why I recognise you," Pyro said smacking his knee with his palm and looking at Sakura, while Alexis was talking about one of her friends, Jaden Yuki.

"You recognise me?" Sakura asked confused. She couldn't remember where she had seen this boy before.

"Yeah," Pyro replied with a huge smile, "We used to be best friends,"


	8. Friends and Family

Chapter Eight - Friends and Family

Pyro sat there with a huge grin on his face, Sakura sat there confused, thinking about what Pyro had just said while Alexis just sat there looking at both of them waiting for the next person to speak.

"How do you know we used to be friends?" Sakura finally asked.

"You should have a card that you promised never to trade," Pyro said crossing his arms, "Just like me,"

"If you know that then you must be able to tell me what that card is," Sakura said starting to get excited.

"Yup, it's the Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon and I bet you could name the card you gave to someone to symbolise a promise to be best friends for ever," Pyro said sitting forward.

" Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch," Sakura muttered. Pyro pulled out his deck and then pulled out the card and showed it to her. She then pulled out her deck and done the same for her Ancient Gear card. She then dropped her deck and went over to Pyro and hugged him. Pyro was shocked by the hug but recovered from it quickly and returned the hug. Just then Drakien came through his door as well as Kazuki coming through the main door, both seeing the two hugging. Kazuki saw and started to pretend to gag at the sight, while Drakien just rolled his eyes.

"Hey Kazuki," Alexis said when she noticed the young boy, she then laughed at his actions.

"Kazuki cut that out," Drakien said shaking his head at his brothers actions. Alexis turned back to face Pyro and Sakura.

"Sakura how come you didn't recognise Pyro?" Alexis asked. Drakien walked out the room with his brother trailing behind him.

"I can answer that," Pyro said, getting Alexis' attention. "You see we knew each other since we where about three, our parents being friends. However shortly after I turned seven and the death of my mum, my dad decided that we should move, so we did. We gave each other the cards so we wouldn't forget each other and we promised we would see each other again. I don't know what happened with Sakura after the move but I found I couldn't really settle in with any of the other kids my age where I moved to and tended to be alone and I always found comfort in talking and seeing as I didn't really fit in I used to talk to myself." He explained.

"But why do you call yourself Pyro?" Sakura asked, "I always called you Adrian,"

"Well that was before I started to hate the name, and my dad came up with the nickname once he found out about my obsession with fire." He said, "It even shows in my deck," He added holding up his cards.

"So that's why Sakura didn't recognise you, I mean after eight years your definitely going to change" Alexis said. She then stood up, "I'll leave you two alone so you can catch up with each other," She added before turning around to leave the room. Alexis lent against the door after closing it sighed.

"Please don't tell me they're doing something I don't want to see,"

Alexis looked to her left and found Drakien standing there with his arms crossed.

"No they're not," Alexis said horrified at what he suggested.

"Good that means I can go in," He said uncrossing his arms and moving toward the door.

"No!" She said quickly, moving in front of him. Drakien looked at her.

"Why?" He asked.

"Please just don't. At least not yet," She pleaded.

"I repeat. Why?" Drakien said getting annoyed.

"Because they need some time alone." She replied. Drakien was getting confused. Why would two students need time alone unless they were a couple or it was something private they were discussing.

"What for?" He asked wanting to get rid of his confusion. He hated being confused.

"Because they've been reunited after eight years," Alexis replied. Drakien sighed. _What a pathetic reason_ He thought and moved round her and placed his hand on the door handle. He was just about to turn the handle when Alexis pushed herself in between him and the door. He stiffened at the body contact between the two of them and quickly moved back wards. He was feeling little bit uncomfortable after realising he just had her breasts against his chest. He knew he was antisocial but he was still male and was interested in quite a few girls but didn't bother pursuing them as it would go against all his hard work. Unfortunately for him, Alexis fell under that category of interesting girls. He cleared his throat and then looked at Alexis who was still blocking him from entering the room.

"I would like to get into my room Alexis," He said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry but I'm not gonna let you until they've had enough time," She replied. She was feeling a bit intimidated by him but wasn't letting it get to her. Drakien was confused. This was the first person to actually stand up to him while knowing about his reputation.

"Move!" Drakien growled. Alexis just shook her head.

"No, I respect my friends privacy," She said.

"I couldn't care about your friends privacy, I want to get to my room now," Drakien said his voice rising. Just then the door opened to reveal Pyro standing there.

"What's all the noise about? Can't you see we're trying to have n adult conversation?" He said looking at the two.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a lovers quarrel," Sakura said from where she sat.

"An adult conversation?" Alexis asked confused.

"Lovers quarrel?" Drakien said, also confused.

"Sorry that was something I've always wanted to say while I was having a private conversation." He said grinning.

"Oh," Was all Alexis managed to say.

"Lovers quarrel?" Drakien repeated but this time tuning a slight shade of pink.

"Oh sorry, didn't realise who was outside the door." Sakura said feeling a bit sheepish. Drakien shook his head and quickly walked into his room where he stayed for the rest of the day. After a couple of hours, Pyro entered his and Drakiens room and found Drakien sitting at his desk with his drawing pad out. From the angle he was at he could see it was two people.

"Who is that picture of?" He asked slowly walking over to Drakien.

"It don't matter," Drakien said closing the pad. He then grabbed a towel and headed towards their bathroom.

"I have to say those showers are awesome," Pyro said smiling as Drakien walked past him.

"Whatever," Pyro heard Drakien say. Once Pyro was sure that Drakien was in the shower he walked over to the desk and opened the pad. He looked through the pad and eventually found the picture. It was of Alexis and Sakura from what he could make out, though by the looks it wasn't completed. He guessed that the girls didn't know they were being drawn as the picture looked very natural. The picture had the whole of Alexis and only the top half of Sakuras done. He noticed how much detail was in put in to the drawing of Alexis. _I bet he got caught _He thought with a smile as he closed the pad and went and laid down on his bed. He scanned the room and noticed there wasn't any pictures of friends and family that were Drakiens. The only thing he had was a poster of Seto Kaiba. After fifteen minutes Drakien came back in half dressed, his hair sticking to his face.

"You may want to dry your hair," Pyro said smiling. Drakien just sneered at the comment. Once Drakien had dried his hair Pyro decided to ask the question.

"Where are the pictures of your family?".


	9. I Miss You

I Miss You

"Where are the pictures of your family?" Pyro asked. Drakien stiffened at the question and continued with what he was doing.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Pyro asked sensing he had asked a bad question. After putting his shirt on Drakien walked over to the door and left. Pyro got up to follow him but realised he had left the dorm once he entered the lounge area.

"You okay?" Alexis asked from where she was sitting on the sofa.

"Kinda….I think I upset Drakien though." Pyro said watching the main door.

"How?" Alexis asked motioning for Pyro to sit next to her. Pyro went and sat down before beginning.

"Has Drakien ever mentioned anything about his family?" He asked.

"Only that Kazuki is his brother, I don't think he's said anything else," She replied, "Why?" She asked.

"Okay, I may be taking this the wrong way seeing as I don't really know Drakien, but I asked him if he had any family photo's which I noticed you and Sakura have quite a few up in your room, but Drakien's is bare. There's just a poster of Kaiba. Anyway when I asked him about family he ignored me and then left after finished getting dressed." Pyro said.

"Hmm that is strange," Alexis said.

"Is it because I'm slightly insane?" He added slightly smiling.

"Are you trying to lighten the mood?" Alexis asked not sure whether to believe him or not.

"Yeah, I assure you I'm not really insane," He said, "Though I can see why people would think it seeing as I often speak to myself," He added staring off.

"Well to be honest we don't know a lot about him as he tends to keep to himself. I think the best person to ask would be Kazuki," She said, "but just be careful with what you say though," She added.

"I may but maybe in a couple of days," Pyro said nodding slightly, at the idea. They both sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Do you know where Sakura is?" He suddenly said turning his head to face Alexis.

"I think she went to bed early," Alexis said looking at her door.

"Oh okay, well I'm gonna go back into my room," Pyro said getting up and pointing at his room.

"Okay, see ya," Alexis said and she settled back down and continued her duel disk check up.

"See ya," Pyro said before walking off through his door. He sat down on his bed and looked at Drakiens bed, wondering what happened to Drakien._ Maybe he didn't hear me….nah he definitely heard me. Then what is it?_ He thought to himself. After a hour passed, Drakien came through the door. He noticed Pyro was staring at the ceiling. Drakien stripped down to his boxers and got in to bed. He laid with his back to Pyro.

"If you even ask Kazuki about it, I will beat the shit into you," Pyro heard Drakien say. Pyros eyes widened. _How the?_ He thought as he shifted his head to look at Drakiens back. He then gulped and tried to get to sleep.

The next morning Pyro, Alexis and Sakura left to get some breakfast. Pyro was excited and eager for his first lessons at his new academy.

"So what are the teachers like?" He asked as they found an empty table.

"They're okay, really know their stuff," Sakura said as she sat down next to Pyro. As Alexis sat down something caught her eye. Pyro and Sakura wouldn't have noticed seeing as they were facing her. It was Drakien and he was just sitting there staring at a cup as waiting for something to happen.

"Excuse me," Alexis said grabbing her food and leaving the table. Sakura looked at her but Alexis gave her a look telling Sakura that she would explain later. Alexis walked up to his table and sat down in front of him.

"Are you okay?" She asked. No answer.

"You know if you need someone to talk to, I'm always available." She said. The next thing she noticed startled her. She saw a tear fall down his cheek.

"Drakien?" She said sounding concerned. _Why does she seemed worried about me?_ He asked himself mentally. He blinked back another tear and looked up at Alexis.

"Leave me alone," He said before looking back at the cup.

"Drakien, I'm trying to help you," She said standing up to move to the seat next to him. But before she could get round the table he stood up and walked out the room, leaving Alexis standing there watching his retreating form. Now she definitely knew there was something wrong with him.

Drakien was sitting on a cliff that overlooked a beach. He was looking out to sea while holding a picture. It was a similar one of the young woman except this time it had a man holding on to her, which was in his right hand. Another tear was strolling down his cheek. He brought the picture up and looked at it.

"I miss you," He said quietly. He then wiped the tear away and then stood up, pocketing the picture as he rose. He looked at his watch and realised he had missed all the lessons that had been scheduled for the day. He took a deep breathe before turning around to make his way back to the main building. He walked back to his dorm, where he found the other three sitting in the lounge area looking at him when he walked into room.

"What?" He snapped.

"Where were you today?" Alexis asked, "You weren't in any of today's classes,"

"What does it matter to you?" Drakien replied.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know, you tell me," Drakien said glaring at Alexis.

"Hey dude! That's not cool," Pyro said walking up to Drakien, "She's only asking a simple question and is wanting to know if you're okay. So stop being a complete ass and try to be at least civil to her,".

Suddenly there was a sharp pain in Pyro's right cheek as he stumbled backwards. Drakien stood there, his left fist clenched in the air. He was trying to block the slight pain that had shot up his arm due to his hands still not being properly healed.

"Have you ever stopped to ask yourself about whether or not I want you to care for me?" Drakien asked before walking over to his door and entering the room. Sakura was standing next to Pyro holding on to him and checking over him.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," He added wincing as he tried to smile.

"There's something wrong with him," Sakura muttered.

"Well duh!" Pyro said earning a slap on the arm. Pyro chuckled. "I've gotta admit he's got one hell of a punch though," He added.

"That's not really a good thing." Alexis said sounding worried. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yup good as new," He said jumping up and smiling, "Ouch!" He said after smiling too hard and he held on to his cheek, "I'm fine," He added upon seeing the other twos faces. They then heard a loud bang from Pyros and Drakiens room. Pyro ran to the door followed by Alexis and Sakura and he opened the door. They found Drakien standing next to his bed with his right fist against the wall which was now dented.

"I'm so glad you hit me with the left hand," Pyro said breaking the silence.

"Shit," They heard Sakura mutter. All three of them looked at Drakien in shock and Drakien looked at them anger in his eyes. She couldn't explain it but she could tell that the anger she saw wasn't directed at them.


	10. The First Move

The First Move

Kazuki was walking to his brothers dorm. He had been asked to go there straight after class for some weird reason. When he got there Alexis answered the door and allowed him in. Meanwhile Drakien was in a classroom sitting in his seat watching all the other students leave, awaiting his detention for damaging academy property. The school counsellor arrived to supervise his detention.

"We meet yet again Drakien," She said once all the other students and the teacher left.

"So it would seem," Drakien said sounding bored.

"Was it because of the people you now share the dorm with?" She asked. She tended to ask Drakien directly due to the amount of times she had seen him.

"Not really, they caused it without knowing." He replied.

"Are you not socialising with them then?"

"Nope," Drakien replied looking at his nails.

"You should know by now that it would help telling other people, with whom you trust," The counsellor said after sighing at Drakiens response.

"I have told the people I trust." Drakien said.

"And who are they?" She asked curiously.

"I trust no one but my brother," Drakien replied. The counsellor sighed and stood up, and then told Drakien what he was going to be doing for his detention.

Kazuki was sat in between Alexis and Pyro on the sofa, they had been talking casually about each other until Alexis brought up the question.

"What about your family Kazuki?" Alexis asked.

"What about them?" Kazuki answered cautiously.

"What are they like?" Pyro asked.

"Well what do you want to know?" Kazuki asked.

"Well do you have any more brothers or sisters, what do your parents do anything really," Alexis replied.

"Drakiens my only brother, My mum was a Librarian and my dad worked for a car company as a technician." Kazuki said looking at his lap.

"What a minute, _was_?" Pyro asked confused.

"Yeah, was, they passed away," Kazuki said sadly. He had been hoping that they wouldn't pick up on the term.

"I'm sorry mate," Pyro said sympathetically.

"Me to," Alexis added before hugging Kazuki.

"Thank you. It happened when I was five and Drakien was seven. I'm dealing with it okay, but I think that's partly due to the age I was" Kazuki said, "However I think Drakien's still having problems with it,". _That would probably explain a lot _Alexis thought.

"How'd they die if you don't mind me asking?" Pyro asked.

"I'll be honest, I don't really know. You see I was at my friends house when it happened, Drakien was there but he's never told me what happened," Kazuki said fidgeting a bit.

"Would you like us to change the subject?" Alexis asked, noticing how he was fidgeting.

"Yes please," Kazuki replied. They changed the subject to duel monsters and it wasn't long before Drakien arrived. He noticed the three talking, but ignored them and carried on to his room. He looked at the filled in hole which his fist had made a couple of days ago. He then looked at his right hand. He had taken off the bandages after the incident and noticed the cuts had split but he didn't redress them. The cuts right now where red round the edge. His left hand had recovered more seeing as he hadn't split the cuts on it, open. Drakien went over to his bed and sat on it. He laid down on his bed and laid there for awhile thinking over what the counsellor had said to him. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Drakien shouted, not wanting to get up and open the door. Alexis came through the door.

"Are you okay," She asked. Drakien sighed, he was getting sick of being asked if he was okay. Hoping it would get her to leave he answered.

"I've been better," He replied.

"How would you like a duel?" She asked.

"A duel?"

"Yeah, except with a stake on it," She replied.

"What are the stakes?" He asked.

"If I win, you have to spend at least a day with me, Pyro and Sakura and join in with the things we do," She said.

"And if I win?" He asked.

"Well what do you want?" She asked.

"You leave me alone for the whole year," He said smiling at the opportunity.

"Agreed," Alexis said.

"Agreed," Drakien repeated as he got up from his bed and grabbed his duel disk.

"Just a quick question," Alexis said as she saw his disk, "What's the design of that disk?"

"My favourite monster," Drakien replied as he walked towards, "Now are we going to duel or not?"

"Sure let's go then," She said turning around and running off to get her disk and deck, "I'll meet you at the duel arena," She shouted as she entered her room. Drakien started to make his way there but he was followed by Kazuki, Pyro and Sakura. _Now I get to try her out and see if Kazuki is correct about her_ He thought to himself as he remembered watching the duel between his brother and Alexis. Alexis soon caught with them before they entered the duel arena. When they got there they took up their positions and activated their disks, while drawing their first five cards.

"Who goes first?" Drakien asked.

"I'll toss a coin and ask you for heads or tails," Sakura said holding up a coin, "Whoever calls correctly chooses,"

"Tails," Drakien said.

"Fine Heads then." Alexis said, watching Drakien. Sakura flipped the coin in the air and then caught it covering it as she placed it on the back of her hand.

"Heads," Sakura said revealing the coin. Drakien sneered at the result but didn't complain. He hated loosing at anything. _But I won't loose this duel he thought. _

"_Is_ this duel an official academy duel?" He asked wanting to know if the results of this duel would be put on his record.

"No," Alexis replied. Drakien sighed but carried on anyway.

"So who goes first?" He asked.


	11. Alexis Vs Drakien

Alexis Vs Drakien

"You go first," Alexis said sounding confident, even though inside she was actually scared. She had found out Drakiens passion for over killing in every duel possible. She watched Drakien draw his card and observe his had.

"I summon my Luster Dragon in attack mode," Drakien said as a purple dragon covered in sapphires appeared to the left of him. "I'll then set two cards and end my turn," . Alexis drew her first card and smiled.

"I'll match your monster by summoning Gemini Elf in attack mode." A pair of female elves appeared next to Alexis. She then looked back her hand, "I'll then set three cards and end my turn,".

"I'll offer my Luster Dragon to summon the White-Horned Dragon," Drakien said after drawing his next card. Where the Luster Dragon once stood, a red dragon with a white horn had appeared.

"Unfortunately I can't activate it's effect seeing as there are no spell cards in your graveyard." Drakien said sounding slightly disappointed. "However, I'll activate the spell card Double Attack which allows me to discard a monster and any monster on my side of the field which is a lower level than the one discarded, can attack twice. So seeing as I discard a level eight monster, my level six White-Horned Dragon can now attack twice." He said smiling evilly. "Now White-Horned Dragon attack her Gemini Elf." He said pointing at the pair.

"Not so fast I activate Hallowed Life Barrier which allows me to discard a card from my hand and for that turn my monster aren't destroyed and I don't loose any life points," Alexis said smiling at the fact that he had fallen for one of her traps, "I'll also activate Solemn Wishes. This card will allow me to gain 500 life points each time I draw a card." She added as she activated the card. Drakien sneered at the trap cards she had played and ended his turn. Alexis drew her second card and liked the look of it.

"I'll play Polymerization fusing two cards in my hand, Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater to fusion summon Cyber Blader in attack mode. I'll then end my turn." She said smiling at her 2100 attack point monster. _Now does he know her effects?_ She asked herself mentally. Drakien was impressed with the monster but wasn't put off by the monsters effects. He drew his card and smiled evilly.

"I'll summon Red-Eyes Wyvern in attack mode." He said as the wyvern appeared alongside the White-Horned Dragon. "I'll then activate the spell card Dragon's Treasure increasing my Wyverns attack points by 300 bringing it to 2100. Turn end," He said smiling hoping that she would fall for the trap he had face down. _I think he knows the effects if he didn't attack which means he wants me to attack_ Alexis thought as she drew her next card.

"Turn end," She said without playing or attacking. Drakien was taken back by this move as he was sure she was going to attack seeing as her monsters attack had doubled due to the two monsters he had on the field. He drew his card anyway.

"I'll summon my Chthonian Emperor Dragon by offering my White-Horned Dragon," Drakien said as he played the monster. "I'll then get my Red-Eyes Wyvern to attack your Cyber Blader." He said as the Wyvern started it's attack.

"What? But you'll take damage," Alexis said confused.

"I'm well aware of that," He replied as Cyber Blader struck the Red-Eyes Wyvern and destroyed it inflicting 2100 points of damage to Drakien, "Now Chthonian Emperor Dragon attack!" He commanded. Unfortunately Cyber Blader had lost the extra attack points and was now back down to 2100. The dragon launched a blazing fireball at the female monster and inflicted 300 points of damage to Alexis. Alexis was wining so far with 4700 life points while Drakien only had 1300. Drakien then ended his turn. Alexis drew her next card which allowed her to gain another 500 life points due to her trap card Solemn Wishes.

"I set a card face down and end my turn." She said, playing the card on her disk. Drakien drew his next card and attacked Cyber Blader again with Chthonian Emperor Dragon inflicting another 300 points of damage bringing Alexis down to 4900.

"Now seeing as it's my End Phase my Red-Eyes Wyverns effect kicks in. Seeing as I didn't summon or set a monster this turn I can special summon one Red-Eyes monster this turn and remove the wyvern from play. I choose my Red-Eyes Black Dragon." Drakien said laughing slightly as the black dragon appeared.

"When did that go to the graveyard?" Alexis asked.

"It was the card I sent to the graveyard when I activated the spell card Double Attack." Drakien explained. Alexis wasn't complaining though seeing as she gained another 500 points and her monsters attack doubled again due to Drakien's two monsters. _I bet Red-Eyes is his key card_ Alexis thought to herself.

"Now Cyber Blader, attack his Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Alexis commanded pointing at the large dragon.

"Foolish, reveal face down, Sakuretsu Armor, destroying your monster," Drakien said smiling evilly again. She had fallen for his trap. Alexis cursed at the lack of concentrating on the face down cards as well as the monsters. She had just seen an opportunity to wipe out the rest of Drakiens life points.

She then set a card and ended her turn. Drakien drew his next card still wearing the same smile.

"Now I'll use Chthonian Emperor Dragons effect as a Gemini monster to summon it again as an effect monster. I'll then end my turn." Drakien said not playing a card. Alexis drew her card boosting her life points by another 500 bringing her to 6400 life points.

"I'll summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode. Seeing as my monster is weaker than all of your monster I can have her attack you directly," Alexis said smiling. Cyber Tutu attacked Drakien bringing her foot down onto his shoulder and brought his life points to a mere 300 points. Drakien hadn't bothered to activate his set card as he knew he could win in the next turn.

"I'll then set a card face down and end my turn," Alexis said placing the only card in her hand on the spell and trap card zone. Drakien drew his next card and laughed.

"First, I'll activate the spell card Inferno Fire Blast inflicting 2400 points of direct damage seeing as I have a Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field. Now I'll offer it as a tribute to bring forth the Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon." Drakien said as the Red-Eyes grew and its wings split so that it had six wings. It had also gained red/orange gaps in its scales. Alexis gulped at seeing the monster. She knew how powerful it could get due to seeing her brother, Atticus using it in a duel against Jaden. Seeing as there are three dragons in my graveyard my Darkness Dragon gains 900 attack points bringing it to 3300. I'll then activate the spell card Dragon's Gunfire and inflict 800 points of direct damage. I'll also activate two Stamping Destructions on the outside cards and inflict 500 each. Now Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon attack Cyber Tutu with Inferno Dark Fire," Drakien shouted. The dragon launched it's attack at the female monster.

"I'll activate Doble Passé," Alexis said activating the card . Drakien looked at her wide eyed. His monster attacked her directly and brought her life points to zero, while her Cyber Tutu launched another attack bringing her foot down this time on his head and bringing his life points to zero. As the holograms faded he was still looking at her wide eyed. He had just drawn against her, _drawn_!

"So what happens now then?" Kazuki asked. Drakien looked at his brother and then thought about the what the counsellor had told him. He then sighed. _If he likes them and can trust them, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try_ He thought. Alexis was just about to answer when Drakien spoke.

"I spend the day with you," He said. Alexis looked at him shocked at what he had said. Pyro had been looking at Alexis when he heard Drakien and was so shocked he turned his head to face Drakien too hard and made his neck it click and was now rubbing his it.

"What?" Alexis asked recovering from the shock.

"I spend the day with you," Drakien repeated.


	12. Talking

Talking

Alexis was laying on her bed that night, playing over the duel and the end result in her head. She was still shocked at what Drakien had suggested. She had also realised earlier on that day that his duel disk represented his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. It wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep Little did she know Drakien was doing almost the same thing. He was staring out the window. He would of had it open but Pyro had been complaining about the coldness whenever he opened the window. He looked over at Pyro who was sprawled over his bed, snoring. He shook his head at the sight and then turned back to looking out the window. _What have I got myself into?_ He asked himself mentally. He slammed his right fist into the window sill and winced slightly at the pain. He looked at his hand and it brought back the memories of Alexis dressing the wounds and how soft her skin was against his. He shook his head violently to get rid of the memories.

"What is wrong with me?" He whispered as the memories remained. His duel spirit appeared outside and looked up at him. He smiled at the spirit of his Red-Eyes card. Just then another spirit appeared of a white dragon and it looked at him as well. He smile grew when he saw the spirit, both of them calming him. He then went and laid on his bed and tried to get some sleep to prepare himself for tomorrow.

Drakien laid there on his bed the next morning staring at the ceiling. He hadn't slept very well and spent most of the night awake. Pyro yawned and stretched as he woke up and looked over at Drakien bed.

"Wow, your up before me," He said surprised, "That eager to hang around with us?" He asked laughing. Drakien gave him a murderous look which silenced Pyro.

"I didn't sleep so don't piss me off," Drakien said as he sat up.

"How come?" Pyro asked sounding a little concerned.

"That doesn't matter." Drakien said as he grabbed a pair of trousers and started putting them on. They both got dressed in silence and then made their way to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. They were soon joined by Alexis and Sakura.

"Morning Drakien, Pyro," Sakura said as she sat down. Drakien just grunted a response while Pyro waved as he chewed his food.

"Morning," Alexis said, "Are you okay Drakien?" She asked noticing how tired he looked.

"I'm fine, just a little tired," He said before taking a swig of his coffee. Once everyone had finished they left the hall. Drakien was walking at the back of the group seeing as he felt he didn't belong with anyone. He was starting to notice people whispering. Drakien was clenching his fist by the time they made it outside. Due to the fact that people avoided him, Drakiens hearing had became better then normal and he was able to hear everyone whispering as they by. But one person made him snap. The boy who had whispered something felt a arm against his chest and a hand against his throat as he was pushed into a tree and held there by Drakien.

"What the fuck did you say about her?" He snarled. The boy repeated what he said through his fear of Drakien and realising the position he was in.

"Alexis has got to be barking mad to have you hanging round with her." He said.

"Drakien let him go," Alexis said looking worried.

"Well she not. All right? If I catch anyone saying that, they'll regret it," Drakien said loud enough for everyone around to hear him.

"Let him go now!" Alexis shouted. Drakien let the kid go and tripped him up as he tried to get away. He then turned and faced Alexis.

"Shall we carry on then," He said. Pyro looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Sakura was holding onto Pyros arm looking scared.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Alexis asked, angry at his actions.

"He insulted you because you have me hanging around with you, and I wont stand for people getting insulted just because of me," Drakien replied. Alexis shook her head and turned around and continued to walk towards where the four were going. The place they were going was a secluded clearing in the about fifteen minutes away from the academy. They all sat down when they got there, Drakien sitting the furthest away from the other three. It wasn't long before Kazuki and a blonde haired girl arrived.

Soon everyone except Drakien was talking about various things and laughing. Drakiens Red-Eyes spirit appeared next to him and growled. No one else could hear the dragon so Drakien wasn't worried.

"Yep I'm bored," He whispered to the dragon. The spirit disappeared when it saw Alexis walking over to Drakien. She sat down next to him and smiled. Drakien picked a piece of grass and started tearing it apart.

"Why don't you join in?" She asked.

"I only said I would hang around, I didn't say I'd join in," He replied.

"Come on," She said looking at him. He turned to face her. "Please," She pleaded. Drakien took a deep breath before speaking.

"Why do you want me to hang around with you in the first place." He asked.

"Because we want to know you better," She replied.

"No I meant just you," He said looking at her, "Only you seem to make any obvious actions that you want to know me better. Yeah Pyro talks to me, but have you seen him at least talk to me since we left after breakfast?" Drakien said turning to watch the others. Alexis dropped her head and remained quiet.

"I'll admit, I'd love to be part of your group but I can't," Drakien said as he picked another piece of grass.

"Why?" Alexis asked.

"I…I have trust issues." He said throwing the blade of grass and watching it fall. Alexis took a deep breath before asking her next question.

"Is this due to your parents deaths?" She asked, bracing herself for what would come next. However she wasn't prepared for what actually happened.

"Yeah," He said simply. They both sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before Drakien spoke again, "I gotta go," He said standing up. He then walked off leaving Alexis where she sat watching him walk away. Alexis soon got up and followed him. Sakura saw this and smiled at what she saw, and then went back to listening to Pyro talk about one of his life stories. Alexis caught up with Drakien and grabbed his hand. Drakien stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her hand in his, confused.

"I'll come with you," She simply said smiling. Drakien looked up at her before they continued to walk, Drakien feeling a little uncomfortable with holding Alexis' hand but he made no move to let go.

"So did Kazuki tell you?" He asked as they walked along.

"What?" Alexis said a bit confused.

"About out parents?" He said looking at the floor

"Only that they had passed away and their occupations, noting else." Alexis replied.

"Good," He said, looking up. As they were walking the other students who noticed the entwined hands started talking.

"You do realise they're talking about us," He said after awhile.

"And?" Alexis asked, "Let them talk," She added smiling.

"So you don't care if they start saying we're dating," He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've noticed you haven't let go," She said smirking. Drakien nodded his head. "And I wouldn't exactly have anything against it," She added.

"Against what?" Drakien asked.

"Doesn't matter," She said shaking her head, still smiling.

"No tell me," He said turning to face her, slightly smiling. Alexis liked the way this was turning out. Alexis gave in and sighed before speaking.

"Well I was referring to when you asked me if cared that people would start saying about us dating," She said. Drakien looked at her feeling a bit awkward and still trying to take in what she had just said.

"Are…Are you saying you like me?" He asked.

"Maybe," Alexis said before letting go of his hand turning around and heading back from where they had walked from, leaving Drakien where he was very confused watching her retreating form.


	13. Dragons Against the Flames

Dragons Against the Flames

Drakien was sitting at his desk in class. He was supposed to be listening to the teacher go on about something to do with chemical. He wasn't sure seeing as he wasn't paying attention. His attention was focused on Alexis. If she'd have been in this class then he would have probably burnt a hole in heard from the staring he would have done. He was still thinking about what she had said yesterday and why he hadn't chased her to get a straight answer from her. Then again he wasn't exactly used to being told he was liked, let alone possibly loved. He banged his head against the desk causing the teacher to stop talking and everyone to look at him.

"Mr Seckuro, is everything okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine," He said from where he rested his head.

"Well then can you refrain from hitting your head on the desk and pay attention please," The teacher said getting a few chuckles from some of the students. Drakien raised his head and looked at the teacher until he started talking again. He turned to look out the window and saw his spirit flying around in the sky. When the lesson ended, he packed his things and made his way to the duel arena. He found Pyro watching one of the duels, looking bored. Drakien walked past him and sat in a chair a few rows up.

"I have an idea," Pyro said loud enough for Drakien to hear.

"Whoopie," Drakien said sarcastically.

"Drakien," Pyro started. Drakien was now expecting some kind of speech on how to respect other people but that didn't come. "I challenge you to a duel," Pyro said as he stood up, turned around and pointed at Drakien.

"You know it's rude to point," Drakien said as he stood up.

"Meh, like you care," Pyro said shrugging his shoulders.

"Good point. I accept your challenge," Drakien said as he got his disk out and put his deck in after shuffling the cards. They made their way over to a field and activated their duel disks and drew their hand.

"I'll start," Drakien said as he drew his first card.

"Hey that's not fair, I came up with the idea for a duel," Pyro said frowning.

"You challenged me," Drakien countered as he looked at his hand, "I'll set two cards face down and summon Element Dragon in attack mode. Turn end,". Pyro drew his first card still annoyed at Drakien taking the first turn but smiled when he saw the monster he had drawn. _Awesome, Familiar Possessed - Hiita. With 1850 attack points I can easily destroy his dragon which only has 1500_ He thought.

"I summon Familiar Possessed - Hiita in attack mode," Pyro said summoning a girl with red hair holding a staff. He saw Drakien smile which unnerved him a bit. "Now attack his dragon!" He commanded and the girl pointed her staff at the dragon and launched a fire spell at the dragon. The dragon however retaliated and destroyed the girl and took out 150 pf Pyros life points.

"WTF?" Pyro asked confused at what had just happened.

"Whenever there is a fire type monster on the field, my dragon gains 500 attack points.

"Oh," Pyro said, he then set two cards and ended his turn.

"I summon Mirage Dragon in attack mode. Now I'll have both of my dragons attack your life points directly and don't forget that you can't activate any trap cards during my battle phase due to Mirage Dragons effect," Drakien said after drawing a card from his deck and summoning a yellow dragon with a scythed tail. The attack brought Pyros life points to a measly 750.

"Ah crap," Pyro said as he watched his life points drop.

"I end," He heard Drakien say and with that he drew his next card.

"I activate the spell card Nightmare Steelcage stopping both of us from attacking. I'll then summon Darkfire Solider 2 in attack mode. I'll then activate the spell card Burning Spear, equipping it to my soldier and increasing it's attack by 400 for the price of 300 defence points. I'll end it there," Pyro said as he watched a robed warrior now holding a katana and a spear that was burning at the tip. Drakien snarled at the now stronger monster as he drew his next card.

"I'll activate the trap card Backdraft which will now inflict 500 points of damage to you every time a fire type monster is sent from the field to the graveyard." Pyro said with a smirk on his face. Drakien looked at the card he had just drawn.

"This duel is over," He said looking at Pyro, "Cus I activate the spell card Dragon's Gunfire and choose the option of inflicting 800 points of direct damage," He said as he played the card in his duel disk.

"And I'll activate the trap card Magic Drain which allows me to cancel out the effect of a spell card by discarding a card from my hand." Pyro said as he placed a card in the graveyard. Drakien cursed the luck that Pyro just had.

"I then activate the face down spell card Foolish Burial and send my Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the graveyard. I'll then activate the other face down card, the trap car known as Call of the Haunted which allows me to bring a monster from the graveyard and place it on the field in attack mode." He said as the black dragon appeared along side Element Dragon., "I end."

The next card that Pyro drew was Meteor of Destruction. Pyro grinned as he looked at the card.

"I activate the spell card Meteor of Destruction which allows me to inflict 1000 points of direct damage as long as my opponent has above 3000 life points." Pyro said gleefully. He was happy now, he had at least inflicted some damage to Drakiens life points. The meteor struck Drakien square on and dust rose from the impact. When the dust cleared Pyro noticed that Drakien hadn't even flinched from the attack.

"What? Not even a flinch?" He asked.

"Nope," Drakien replied.

"Fine, I end." Pyro said grumpily. Drakien drew his next card.

"Now I'll summon a monster stronger than your weak monster and that monster is Tyrant Dragon by offering my Element Dragon and Mirage Dragon." Drakien said as red dragon with a green jewel on its forehead just above its eyes replaced the two smaller dragons. The dragon roared as it appeared.

"I'll set a card and end my turn.". Pyro drew his next card as Nightmare Steelcage ended and he placed a monster face down in defence mode hoping it would help him last another turn. He then also switched his Darkfire Soldier 2 to defence mode as well. He the ended his turn cursing his luck in this duel. Drakien drew his card but didn't bother to look at it.

"Now Tyrant Dragon attack his face down monster," He commanded. The monster defence didn't stand a chance against Tyrant Dragons 2900 attack points as the monster was destroyed and Backdrafts effect kicked in, inflicting 500 points to Drakien bringing him down to 2500 life points. "And with Tyrant Dragons effect I can attack once more seeing as there is another monster on your side of the field, so destroy his Darkfire Soldier," Drakien said laughing

"Now Red-Eyes! Inferno Fire Blast!" Drakien said pointing at Pyro. The black dragon opened it mouth and fired a huge fire ball at Pyro which hit him at his feet and ended the duel with Drakien as the victor.

"Knew I shouldn't of challenged him," Pyro muttered to himself.


	14. Painful Memories

Painful Memories

It was now a week since Drakien had hung out with Alexis and her friends. A week since she confused him. Drakien was sitting at one of the tables alone in the cafeteria. He was still confused at how Alexis had said that she _may_ like him. After thinking about it for five minutes he gave up and pulled out a couple of booster packs he had got with some of the Duel Points (DP) he had acquired. The last card out of the second pack interested him. The was called Cyber Dragon. He found it particularly interesting seeing as it looked just like a dragon except a machine version. He looked at the card for a while before putting the cards in his back pocket, then downed the remainder of his coffee and left for his room. He found Pyro sitting in his room writing a letter.

"Oh hey Drakien," Pyro greeted as Drakien entered the room.

"Hey," Drakien replied. He kicked off his shoes and then placed them at the base of his bed. He turned to look at Pyro who was leaning on the desk.

"Why is it, that I can seem to talk to you and not be my normal antisocial self? Drakien asked. Pyro looked up at Drakien.

"Must be my awesome insane charm," He chuckled. He stopped when he saw Drakiens face, "Dunno." He said quickly turning to his letter. Drakien sighed at the answer which didn't help answer his question. He had noticed that he had become kinder as the days went by ever since Alexis had moved into the dorm.

"Who you writing to?" Drakien questioned as he got out a folder that was underneath his bed and started to put the new cards in it.

"My dad, he hates computers so I can't email him," Pyro said as he continued to write. He expected Drakien to say something else but he heard the door open and then close. Turning around he found himself on his own. Drakien was now sitting in the lounge area on one of the sofas. He hated hearing people talk about parents partly due to the fact that he hated his foster parents and the fact that he still blamed himself for the death of his. He pulled back the sleeve of his left arm and traced the scars that were on the arm. He remembered creating them, only stopping because he came to realise that his younger brother needed him. He sighed before covering them up. He then pulled out his deck and searched for his Red-Eyes Black Dragon card. It wasn't the most powerful card he owned but it was the card responsible for him being able to see his spirit and for him creating the dragon themed deck that he used. It was the one card that never left the deck. The reason for this was because it was a present from his dad on his seventh birthday. He felt some movement to the right of him on the sofa and turned to see what had caused it. It was Pyro.

"Look I'm sorry if I've upset you," Pyro started.

"It's fine, you don't know how I'll react, not even I do," Drakien finished.

"What do ya mean?" Pyro asked confused.

"I can't tell how I'm gonna react when someone starts talking about their parents, sometimes I go all quiet and leave the place to be on my own or I go and hit something until I bleed ," Drakien explained, "Badly, it's the most common result" He added. He then showed his knuckles to Pyro which were still covered in scabs, they were small but still plainly visible.

"That's what my anger can do if I hit a tree," He said. Pyro looked at him feeling a mixture of feelings.

"Have you thought about anger management?" He asked chuckling a bit. Drakien smiled at the remark.

"Yes, I have but it failed." He replied. He then leant onto his knees. "I've also been to see Therapists and used a few drugs but it still wouldn't work."

"Sorry if I'm missing the point but why did you go and see Therapists and use drugs?" Pyro asked.

"Because of my parents death," Drakien whispered. Pyro was now starting to feel uncomfortable. Drakien then got up and left the dorm just as Alexis arrived. She greeted him but he ignored her as they passed each other.

"Is he okay?" She asked. She then saw Pyros face, "Are you okay?" She asked sitting down next to him.

"Shocked that's all." He replied shortly.

"About what?"

"I just found out that Drakiens had what I think is a very rough life," He replied.

"How?" Alexis asked intrigued.

"He's gone through anger management, seen Therapists and had drugs prescribed to him, all because of the effect of his parents deaths," Pyro said shaking his had feeling sorry for the boy. Alexis covered her mouth, shocked at what she had heard.

Meanwhile Drakien was laying on the grass looking up at the sky. People passed him but paid no attention to him, he liked it that way. That went for all but one. Kazuki was walking up to his brother after seeing him laying on the floor. He sat down next to the young man and looked up at the sky.

"Don't you love it here?" Drakien said softly.

"Yeah," Kazuki replied. He had a feeling it would lead to a conversation about their foster parents. Then a questioned formed in his head.

"How come we both go to this academy?" Kazuki questioned. Drakien sat up slowly.

"It was part of our parents will. They had saved some money for both of us to go to an academy. They hadn't decided which one, but we were both taken with the idea of going to one ever since our Dad introduced up to his deck." Drakien explained. Kazuki smiled at an image of a younger version of him and Drakien happily playing with the cards. He then asked a question he had been scared to ask for quite a long time.

"Do you blame yourself for their deaths?" He asked quietly. Drakien turned to face him, his eyes narrowed.

"Why do you ask?" He asked his brother.

"Well…well be…because I remember you being happy and stuff. You never really lashed out at anyone. I know I was only five but I kept in contact with Grandma and Granddad and they were sad at how you were reacting to their deaths and they told me about how we both used to be." Kazuki said, tears forming in his eyes. Drakien moved so he was next to Kazuki and put an arm around him to comfort his bother.

"Yeah, I do blame myself," Drakien eventually said.

"Why?" Kazuki asked looking at brother.

"I don't want to talk about it yet, I still need time," Drakien answered. Kazuki nodded in understanding. He didn't want to make his brother upset.

"You okay now?" Drakien questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Kazuki said smiling.

"Good, now off you go," He ordered, nodding his head. Kazuki nodded his head as he got up. He bid his brother farewell and left the older boy to himself. Once he knew his brother was out of sight he hit ground with his fist, and his eyes narrowed as memories of that day filled his mind.


	15. The Reason

The Reason

Drakien was going through his drawing pad while sitting alone in his room. He had his radio on playing a CD on a low volume setting. He was going through it to see what he had drawn so he wouldn't so another picture of the same thing. He turned a page and came across the picture he had started of Alexis and Sakura. Alexis was completed but he had left Sakura unfinished but never bothered to carry on with her. He stared at the picture trying to come up with a reason why he felt it was complete when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in," He shouted so the person behind the door could hear. The door opened and Alexis came through it. Drakien looked up to see who it was and quickly changed the page so she didn't see the picture.

"What you up to?" She asked smiling as she walked forward.

"Just looking at my drawings, trying to get an idea of what to draw next." Drakien replied, flipping over another page. Alexis went and sat on Pyros bed.

"Can I have a look?" She asked. _Shit!_ Was all that went through his mind. Drakien thought about it for a minute before nodding. He handed her the pad. He waiting uncomfortably for Alexis to find the picture. She eventually found the picture and paused when she realised who it was.

"When did you do this?" She asked.

"Can't remember, I think it was shortly after Sakura moved in," He replied avoiding her eyes. Alexis studied the picture and thought is was amazing.

"Its amazing," She said as she looked at it.

"Really?" He asked surprised. Alexis nodded.

"Can I have it?" She asked, looking up at him smiling.

"Err sure," He replied, still stunned that she liked it. He watched her carefully remove the picture from the pad, watching her hands. His mind then wondered to his memory of her touching him with her hands. She carefully folded the picture so that it would fit in her pocket. She handed him the pad back and leant over him, and kissed him on the cheek before leaving the room, leaving Drakien totally stunned.

Alexis was leaning against Drakiens door blushing like mad. Unfortunately Pyro entered the room and noticed her blush.

"What have you two been up to?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Shut up Pyro," She snapped before walking into her room. Pyro watched her walk across the lounge.

"So something did happen?" He asked himself once her door closed. He then ran into his room and looked a bit disappointed when he found Drakien laying on his bed.

"Did something just happen between you and her?" Pyro asked smiling. Drakien looked up at Pyro frowning. "Yeah," He said slowly.

"Really?" Pyro said excitedly, "Tell what," He eagerly said as he knelt down by Drakiens bed. Drakien looked at Pyro as if he was insane.

"I gave her a picture," He answered. Pyros smile fell.

"Is that all?" He asked.

"She kissed me on the check,"

"So something did happen then," Pyro said standing, "Although it was something small, something still happened," He added as he jumped onto his bed. He suddenly felt a pencil hit the side of his head, "Ouch! What was that for?" Pyro asked as he rubbed his head.

"For being a dick," Drakien replied, "Now pass me the pencil please,". Pyro should've known better than to pass Drakien the pencil back because as soon as he laid back down after passing the pencil, it hit him again on the nose. Meanwhile Alexis was having to put up with Sakura asking her how Drakien reacted when she kissed him and if she liked it. She was hoping that Drakien wasn't having to put up with something similar with Pyro. Pyro was annoying Drakien, He took the throwing of the pencil as an act of war and was now annoying the hell into Drakien by saying stuff like Drakien wanted to have babies with Alexis, which was proving to be effective. Drakien had had enough. Getting up he stormed out the room. Pyro smirked when he realised he had 'won' his 'war'. Meanwhile Drakien had found a little quiet place and his mind was racing. He was asking himself questions such as why he allowed Pyro to carry on and why he was even socialising with the three of them. It wasn't because of his brother, as much as he loved his brother, he wouldn't do it. How long he sat there, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that it was getting late. It wasn't long before he heard someone approaching where he was sitting. The person sat down next to him but didn't say anything. He looked to his left without moving his head and saw Alexis sitting there. He moved to get up and walk away when Alexis spoke.

"Are you okay?". Drakien continued to get up.

"Why do you even care?" He asked bitterly. Alexis was shocked at his question.

"What do you mean?" She questioned as she also stood up.

"You know exactly what I mean," Snapped Drakien.

"Look I'm only trying to be a friend," She reasoned.

"Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe that I don't want any friends." He almost shouted. Alexis was feeling hurt and scared and slightly angry. Drakien just stared at her, waiting for her next move.

"Tell me why won't you let anyone close?" She demanded. Drakien walked up to her. So close she could feel his breath on her face.

"I'll tell you why. When you see your best friend watching his Dad kill your parents while your forced to watch the whole ordeal, you tend to have trust issues." He said before walking off. Alexis just stood there wide-eyed with horror. She could now understand why he shunned people. She fell to the floor and just sat there trying to take what he had just said, in completely.


	16. Warning

Warning

It had been three weeks since Drakien had spoken to Alexis. He had avoided his dorm everyday except for during some of the nights. Alexis hadn't bothered trying to talk to him yet as she was still shocked over what he had told her that night. Both, Sakura and Pyro had noticed the lack of interaction between the two. The three of them were in the Library working on some homework.

"What's up between you and grumpy?" Pyro asked as he skimmed a page of a book.

"Hmmm?" Came from Alexis.

"I asked what's going on between you and Drakien," Pyro repeated.

"Nothing," Alexis answered a bit too quickly. Pyro sighed as he looked at Sakura, giving her a look that told her to try and get a satisfactory answer.

"Lexis, come on. We know something has gone on between you and Drakien so spill," Sakura said as she took Alexis pen out her hand and her pencil case. Alexis sighed in defeat. She had managed to avoid telling them so far but was getting annoyed with the constant questioning.

"Fine, we had an argument okay," She muttered.

"An argument? Normally you would've kissed and made up by now," Pyro stated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah well not this time," She said grabbing her bag and walking off. Sakura packed her stuff along with the stuff Alexis had left behind and ran to catch up with Alexis. Pyro just sat there.

"I'll never understand that girl." He mumbled as he set back to work. Sakura soon caught up with Alexis and gave her stuff back.

"Are you okay," She asked once she noticed the tears rolling down her face. Alexis nodded her head as she wiped the tears away.

"Thanks," She mumbled as she took her stuff and put it in her bag.

"Do you want to talk about it?". Alexis shook her head. Just then Drakien turned around the corner and walked past the two without seeming to notice the two. Once Drakien had seen her face he felt a pang of guilt in him. He continued to walk but eventually stopped in his tracks. He then pulled out he PDA, typed a message and then sent it before continuing to make his way to the place of the duel he had been asked to participate in.

Alexis was waiting in one of the classrooms. She was just about to leave when the door opened and Drakien walked in. He walked over to her slowly. Not wanting to be with him just now, she started to make her way to the door.

"Wait!" He said as he grabbed her arm while she passed him. She looked at him, in his eyes. "Please," He pleaded. Alexis relaxed a bit and nodded.

"I just want to apologise about how I've treated you. I'm guessing you can understand why I have trouble trusting people now and I want you to know that none of this is your fault." He said looking directly into her eyes, "I also want you to know, you're the first person I've told about how my parents died and the reason why I avoided you was not because I didn't want you around but that I was actually scared with the fact that you now knew about the reason behind the way I act." He added quietly.

"If you were scared then why did you tell me?" She asked confused.

"I honestly have no idea," He answered. "But I now know I want to be with you," He quietly said.

"Why are you apologising now?" She questioned.

"Because you did nothing wrong. I'm also a jerk and I want to have you around," He replied a bit louder. Alexis was shocked, this wasn't the same Drakien she knew. He barely ever wanted people around him yet he had asked to meet her now and was telling her that he wanted her around.

"And I'll do anything to make that happen," He added. He sounded desperate.

"What's with the change?" She asked. She had a feeling something was up.

"I'll be honest. Once my best mate made that…that happen, I lost the point in having friends. I haven't had one since that day until you moved in." He started saying but Alexis didn't listen to the rest as he was cut off as Alexis had an urge and acted on it. She moved towards him, closing the gap between the two. Her lips soon met Drakiens cutting him off. At first he didn't respond due to the shock but he soon responded. When they broke apart leaving a small gap, they looked at each other.

"So what happens now?" He asked in a whisper.

"Remember that time when I said I may like you?" She responded. Drakien nodded slowly, wondering where this would lead to. "Well what if I say I do like you," She added.

"Then I'd probably kiss you again," Drakien replied.

"I do like you then," She whispered. Drakien then leant in a kissed her again.

"Does that mean you're my girlfriend?" He asked once they broke for air.

"I'll leave that to you to decide," Alexis replied smiling slightly.

"Then I guess that's a yes," He said smiling. Alexis' smile grew bigger and she then kissed him on the cheek.

"Let's go back to the room then," He said grabbing her hand. The two walked hand in hand all the way to the door of their dorm. Drakien let go of her hand and opened the door. He then held the door open for Alexis to walk through. Sakura was in the room and saw how the two where reacting.

"I see you two are talking to each other then," She said smiling. Drakien nodded her head.

"Yeah, like Pyro said, I kiss and make up," Alexis said blushing very slightly. Sakura however didn't notice the meaning behind it or the blush that was crawling onto Alexis' face. Drakien was getting ready for the bombardment of questions from Sakura but they never came. He shrugged his shoulders and made his way to his room. Before going through the door the two waved at each other. Once the door was closed Alexis received a puzzled look from Sakura. She took a deep breath before telling her best friend. Drakien was leaning against the door when he heard Sakura shout "Oh My God, Since When?" . He smiled at the reaction that Sakura had performed after hearing that he and Alexis were together. He was however dreading telling Pyro about them. He walked over to his desk and looked at his calendar. His smile fell when he saw the date of tomorrow. He turned around and left the dorm. Alexis was too busy telling Sakura about the meeting with Drakien and Sakura was too busy listening to her that neither of them noticed Drakien leave the dorm. Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door. Sakura ran to the door hoping it was Pyro so she could tell him about the new couple but opened it to find Kazuki standing there.

"Yo," He greeted before walking in. He saw Alexis and nodded at her.

"Hey Kazuki, how are you?" Alexis greeted.

"I'm good thanks, I've just come to tell you that tomorrow is Drakiens birthday," He said looking a little grim.

"What? Tomorrow?" Alexis asked standing up.

"Yeah, I came to warn you that he can be very, very grumpy on his birthday and tends to want to be alone, even I stay away from him then," Kazuki explained.

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Because that's the day our parents died," Kazuki answered quietly.

"Oh shit, your gonna have one hell of a bad day," Sakura said looking at Alexis.

"Why?" Kazuki asked, curious as to why it would be bad.

"Because Drakien and her are now a couple," Sakura replied. Kazukis eyes just grew.

"What?" He asked confused.

"I'm his girlfriend," Alexis said looking seriously at Kazuki.

"Since when?" Kazuki asked hating that he had been left out of something so important in his brothers life.

"Since about ten minutes ago," Sakura answered.


	17. A Better Birthday

A Better Birthday

Alexis woke up the next day hoping that her last minute present would please Drakien. She quickly got changed and made her way to the boys room. After knocking on the door, Pyro answered the door looking very tired.

"Uh," Was all that came out his mouth.

"Lovely," She said sarcastically, "Is Drakien in?". Pyro turned around and looked around his room calling Drakien but he didn't get a response.

"Nope," Pyro replied whilst yawning. He then closed the door and made his way back to bed ignoring the fact that it was a Monday. Alexis made her way to the cafeteria and got her breakfast. She noticed that Drakien wasn't there either. By the time she had finished her breakfast she didn't have much time left till her first lesson so she resorted to speaking to him during the first lesson they have together. Meanwhile Drakien was already sitting in his seat for the Duel Practice lesson. His teacher said that everyone should use this lesson to keep the rules in their head and come up with new strategies. Drakien however thought the lesson was pointless. The only decent thing was actually doing the duels unless is was with someone who was new to the game. After the lesson started the teacher partnered the students off. Drakien was partnered off with a boy which sandy coloured hair which was in a ponytail. Drakien drew his hand a smirked at the cards he had drawn. The boy whose name was Michael went first.

"I activate Double Summon. This spell card allows me to normal summon twice this turn instead of the usual once. I then summon a Giant Soldier of Stone in attack mode. Now due to Double Summons effect I summon Total Defence Shogun in attack mode by offering my stone soldier. However due to it's effect it automatically goes into defence mode whenever summoned in attack mode." He explained as he played the cards. A huge armoured warrior crouched down, holding his sword and shield in a defensive manner. " I'll then activate the spell card Yellow Luster Shield which increases the defence points of all my monster by 300, that'll do me for this turn.". Drakien drew his first card. He wasn't in the best of moods and he knew that watching this person as he cowered when he played a certain card would help improve his mood…very slightly.

"I'll start by activating the spell card White Dragon Ritual and offer the Spear Dragon in my hand to special summon the Paladin of White Dragon. I'll then use its effect and offer it to call upon a certain dragon from my deck." Drakien searched his deck and pulled out the card. "Now come fourth Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" He shouted as he replaced the Paladin with the larger dragon. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing when they heard the legendary dragon roar and looked at who had summoned it. Drakien smirked when he saw the boys face.

"Now due to Paladins effect the Blue-Eyes can't attack so I'll activate the spell card Burst Stream of Destruction which allows me to destroy all your monster on the field when I have a Blue-Eyes out. But that's not all I'll then summon Mirage Dragon in attack mode and activate the spell card Ancient Rules which allows me to special summon a level five or higher normal type monster and I choose Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Now my two dragons attack him with all you've got." Upon the command Drakiens Red-Eyes and Mirage Dragon attacked Michael and dropped his life points to zero. Michael was still in shock that Drakien had summoned the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"Ho…How did you get that card?" Michael asked stuttering as he watched Drakien walk to his seat. As he took his seat his PDA message tone went off just as the teacher approached him.

"Can I ask a question Drakien?" The teacher asked.

"You just did," Drakien retorted.

"Well said," The teacher replied a bit bitterly, "I want to know how you came across a Blue-Eyes White Dragon,". Drakien sighed.

"I have three and I won them in some tournaments. If you don't believe me ask Industrial Illusions." Drakien responded. Once the teacher left him alone Drakien pulled out his PDA and read the message.

_Hey! How you doing? Hope you lesson is okay. I have something for you which I'll give to you in our second lesson. Love Alexis xx_

Drakien smiled upon reading the message and sent a reply saying that this lesson was interesting due to his duel he just done and that he was looking forward to seeing what she had got him.

"Well this seems to be a better birthday than normal," He muttered to himself. He then started watching on of the duels that were still in progress. One of them had just summoned a Cannon Soldier. Knowing what was coming next he covered his ears as the monster used its effect.

It was now time for his second lesson and Drakien was sitting in his seat waiting for Alexis. She soon arrived and sat down next to him just before kissing him on the cheek. The register was taken and they were soon doing the work they had been set.

"So what've you got for me then?" Drakien whispered as he wrote down the answer to a question.

"Just a minute," Alexis replied before grabbing her bag and searching through it. She then pulled out a small package which was wrapped up in plain paper.

"Sorry it's not fancy but I was only told last night," She said as she passed the small package to Drakien.

"Happy Birthday," She said as he opened the package which turned out to be a duel monster card.

"Wow, Light and Darkness Dragon, I've been looking for this card," He said in awe, looking at her. He then lent in an kissed her on the lips. "Thanks," He mumbled giving her a rare smile. For the rest of the lesson he sat there with her holding her left hand with his right while doing the work.

Drakien and Alexis were sitting in the lounge part of their dorm on the sofa, holding each other. They were listening to a new CD, Kazuki had got Drakien. Drakien had also just opened a present from Pyro and Sakura which turned out to be a pencil set for his drawings.

"You know the strange thing is, I never told anyone it was my birthday today," Drakien stated as he leant his head on Alexis'.

"Well Kazuki came in yesterday, shortly after we became a couple and told us. Well warned us." Alexis explained.

"Warned?" Drakien asked.

"Yeah, he said you may be a bit grumpier than normal." Alexis replied.

"Ah," Was all he said. "How grumpy was i today then?" He asked.

"Not very," She replied. He then pulled her in closer.

"I've actually enjoyed today," He said smiling ever so slightly. "Better than normal,"

"Good," Alexis said before kissing him on the cheek.


	18. Plans

Plans

Drakien was once again in the middle of a duel. He had two monsters on the field which couldn't attack due to his opponents equip spell card Paralyzing Potion and his monsters where equipped with one each. He would have won the duel earlier seeing as his opponent didn't have any cards on the field apart from the two spell cards. It was now Drakiens turn and he placed his fingers on his deck ready to draw his next card. He drew the card and smiled slightly at the card.

"I'll now offer my two dragons on the field to summon Light and Darkness Dragon. The two dragons vanished and was replaced by a large dragon. The dragon was two colour which where split down the middle. On one side the dragon was pure white and looked like a peaceful creature. However on the other half it was completely black and evil looking. Kazuki had once referred to it as Drakiens personality card the two sides of the dragon representing the two sides of his personality. The light part representing his kindness toward Kazuki, Alexis and who he now considered friends, Pyro and Sakura, while the dark side of the dragon represented the vicious, anti-social side of him. Little did Alexis know but this card also contained a duel spirit which brought his total of duel spirits up to five. His opponent looked pissed seeing as he guessed he had now lost the duel. He then looked at his hand and smiled.

"Now Light and Darkness Dragon attack him directly with Shining Breath!" Drakien commanded.

"I'll activate Kuribohs effect by sending him to the graveyard to reduce all damage to zero." The boy said as the blast from the dragon hit him.

"Then I'll activate my dragons effect by decreasing his attack and defence by 500, it negates the effect. Even though my dragon now has 2300 attack instead of it's original 2800, you still loose." Drakien said while his opponents life points dropped to zero. He put all his cards except Light and Darkness into his deck holder on his belt and walked off, holding the card in his hand. He looked at the card he had made a promise with. He promised Alexis that this card would be one of his cards that never left his deck. The card had also contributed to many of his victories. He was now making his way to the cafeteria when he passed someone who looked strangely familiar. He looked back at the person who continued to walk away. He shook his head and dismissed his thought. Upon entering the cafeteria he spotted Alexis and went to sit down next to her. It wasn't long before Pyro and Sakura joined the couple. They were all soon talking and had just started on the subject of the upcoming Christmas holidays.

"So what are you gonna be up to during the holiday?" Sakura asked Pyro.

"Well as far as I know its just gonna be me and me dad," Pyro replied. "You?"

"I'm having my cousins round for Christmas Eve." Sakura replied. She then came up with an idea.

"Why don't the four of us meet up some time during the holidays?" She asked eagerly. Alexis nodded at the idea.

"Sure," Pyro replied also nodding. Drakien however didn't nod.

"What's wrong?" Alexis asked as she squeezed his hand.

"Nothing," He replied while putting on a fake smile. Alexis knew he wasn't telling the truth so she decided to ask him about it once they were alone.

"So what are you going to be doing during the break?" Pyro asked Drakien.

"Nothing." Drakien replied. "Kazuki will be going to a mates for the holiday and I'll be left alone while our foster parents go on holiday to where ever."

"So you'll be alone for the whole time?" Sakura asked in a shocked manner. Drakien just nodded.

"Why don't you come round mine for the holidays. I'm sure my parents would be okay with and you'd have to put up with my older brother," Alexis suggested.

"Are you sure?" Drakien asked feeling a bit uncertain about he idea. Especially meeting her older brother.

"Yeah, I'll ask them after class finishes," She replied smiling up at him. Drakien couldn't help but smile back at her even if it was a slight smile.

Just as the bell rang to signal the end of the classes for the day, Drakien quickly got out of the class and started making his way back to his dorm. _I guess I'd best call them just to make sure its okay and so they know where I am_ He thought as his mind wondered to the question Alexis had asked about him spending Christmas at hers. Once he got to his room he walked over to his desk and pulled out his phone. Searching through the contacts he soon came across the one he needed. His thumb hovered over the call button. He then took a deep breath before pressing the button. Meanwhile Alexis was making her way back to the dorm. She had just got off the phone to her Dad asking him if it was okay if Drakien could spend Christmas with them and he had said yes. She was over the moon and making her way to the dorm as quick as she could. Upon entering the dorm she heard him shouting.

"Why do you even give a fuck!?" She heard which was followed by a loud thud and a cracking sound. She ran into Drakiens room and found him sitting on his bed.

"Are you okay?" She asked. He looked up at her and nodded.

"My phones not though," He added sighing, as he looked over at where the broken phone lay.

"What happened?"

"I told my foster parents that I was going over yours for Christmas. They said it was okay but wanted to make sure that I would be in safe hands and when they found out you where my girlfriend they kinda over reacted." He replied. Alexis walked over to his bed and sat down next to him. She then pulled him into a hug.

"Well my parents said it would be okay for you to come over." She said as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently.

"Cool," Drakien muttered.

"Will they try to call you back?" Alexis asked. Drakien nodded.

"But due to the state of my phone they wont get an answer," Drakien added. He then turned to face her.

"Is there anything I should know about your family?" He asked.

"Why, you feeling scared?" She teased.

"Yeah right, Just want to make sure you're the only nutcase," He teased back.

"Well my brother will probably interrogate you seeing as he has some weird interest in my love life, but apart from that no, well at least that's in my opinion," She answered letting go of him. They both sat in silence for a while before Drakien laid back on his bed. He put his hands behind his head and rested on them.

"You know, this'll be my first Christmas with someone for about eight years," Drakien stated.

"Eight years?"

"Yup, Kazuki always went to his friends as our foster parents don't really trust me with him," Drakien explained. He then looked at her and saw her expression. "Yeah I don't get it either," he added. Drakien then remembered something.

"I have something for," He said as he sat up. He then pulled out his deck and looked through it. Once he found the card he was looking for, he pulled it out and handed it to Alexis.

"This …is for me?" She asked.

"Yeah." Drakien answered. "I know it's only been about a month since we started going out but I'm really glad that we're going out," He paused before speaking again to look at her eyes, "I don't mean to scare you but I really love you and I'd like you to have a part of me in my deck so I want you to have my White-Horned Dragon, just like I have a part of you in my deck," He said as he pulled out his Light and Darkness Dragon card. The next thing he knew, Alexis was holding onto him tightly.

"I love you too," He heard her say into his shoulder. Drakien put his arms around her in a comforting motion and to return the hug. He also gave another one of his rare smiles.


	19. Departures and Arrivals

Departures and Arrivals

It was the evening of the day before Drakien and Alexis left to go to her house for the Christmas holidays. Drakien was laying in his bed, on top of the quilt, staring at the ceiling. For the first time in a very long time he was feeling nervous. Three of his duel spirits appeared. The three where his Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Light and Darkness Dragon. The three dragons looked at him and he looked back at them. He smiled slightly before they vanished. He looked over at his alarm clock which read 1:27am. Sighed, Drakien turned over onto his side. He then sat up, swinging his legs over the edge. He then walked over to his desk and turned on the desk lamp. As pulled out his drawing pad he grabbed a pencil and a rubber. He then flicked open the pad to an empty page. Placing the pencil just above the paper, he pondered on what to draw. He enjoyed drawing, it seemed to calm him down sometimes. Pulling out his PDA, he looked at the picture of Alexis he had as its background. He then looked over at the bag at the end of his bed which was full of clothes and extra stuff which he would take to Alexis'. _It'll be good there_ He reassured himself mentally. He then turned back to the drawing pad and started drawing. By the time he finished the picture it was 5:53. He stretched his arms before walking over to the bathroom to go to the toilet. He came out a couple of minutes later and laid down on his bed.

"Screw it," He muttered, getting up and going to a chest of draws. He got out a clean pair of socks and boxers and grabbed the clothes that where laying on the back of his chair and got changed. By the time he had finished getting changed it was 6:01am. He decided to make his way to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee and probably some breakfast.

Alexis opened the doors to the cafeteria and spotted Drakien sitting at an empty table with a drink. She went and got her breakfast and then made her way to the table and sat down beside Drakien.

"Morning," She greeted after kissing him on the cheek.

"Morning," Drakien muttered. The effect of not having sleep had caught up with him now.

"Didn't you sleep?" Alexis asked, recognising the symptoms. Drakien just shook his head as he poured himself another cup of coffee. "Why not?"

"Just nervous I guess," Drakien replied as he stifled a yawn. Alexis put down her spoon and put his right hand in both of hers.

"You've got nothing to worry about," She assured him with a smile. Drakien nodded.

"It's not that I'm nervous about." Drakien said. Alexis looked at him confused. "I'm nervous about sleeping round someone's house, especially my girlfriends," He added.

"When was the last time you slept round someone's house?" She asked.

"Never," He replied.

"This is your first sleep over?" She asked surprised. Drakien just nodded before taking another swig if his coffee. Alexis was not expecting this. She thought he would of at least had one sleep over due to his age.

On the boat Alexis found out that Drakien didn't enjoy travelling. He had spent most of the journey in the bathroom of their cabin, throwing up due to sea sickness. They were now in her Dads car on the way to her house.

"So how did you two meet then?" Alexis' dad asked.

"I showed her to her dorm room which turned out to be mine as well sir," Drakien replied.

"Please call me David,"

"Very well,"

"Dad it's normally mum who asks me these kinds of questions. How come your asking them?" Alexis asked.

"I just want the upper hand over your mum," David replied chuckling a bit. Alexis shook her head.

"I see where she gets her competitiveness from then," Drakien said looking at Alexis.

"There's nothing wrong with being competitive," David said smiling.

"I know. I'm quite competitive sometimes," Drakien stated. "Especially when it comes to duelling,"

"So where do you stand at how good you are at this academy Drakien?" David questioned.

"He's the best there, he's never lost," Alexis answered.

"Really?" David asked, surprised, "Not a single loss at all?"

"I've drawn but I haven't lost at that place yet." Drakien answered. After a hour and a half of questioning from David the three soon arrived at Alexis' house. Leaning against the front gate was a teenager who looked to be a couple of years older than Alexis. He had brown hair and eyes and was watching the car.

"Dad, does Atticus know about Drakien staying over?" Alexis asked.

"Of course he does. I don't know why but he seems to be excited that Drakiens staying. Drakien raised an eyebrow at the answer and then looked at Alexis. She however didn't look at him, but instead looked at her brother as he approached the car. The three got out of the car and was greeted by the teenager.

"Hey Dad, hey Lexy," He greeted, "And you must be Drakien, the boy who has stolen my dear sisters heart," He said as he turned to Drakien.

"Err yeah, if you say so," Drakien answered.

"The names Atticus, remember that for I shall be famous someday," Atticus said as he held out a hand. Drakien shook the hand reluctantly. "So how'd you do it?" He asked.

"Do what?" Drakien questioned, confused about what the older teen was one about.

"God Atticus you don't need to know," Alexis said as she grabbed Drakiens hand and pulled him away, towards the house.

"I see what you mean by the interest he has," Drakien said as they entered the front door.

"Atticus, where's your mother?" David shouted from the car. Atticus turned to look at the car.

"She went to get some extra food as she thought it may be needed," Atticus shouted back.

"I'll show you where you'll be sleeping," Alexis said pulling Drakien up the stairs. They arrived at the room and upon opening the door Drakien saw that the room was already full of stuff.

"This is my room," She said smiling. "Just put your bag over there," She said pointing to a corner.

"I'm sleeping in here?" Drakien asked as he walked over to the corner.

"Yeah, you'll be sharing the room with me," Alexis replied. Drakien spun around on the spot.

"Sorry what?" He asked.

"You'll be sharing the room with me," Alexis repeated slower than before.

"Are you sure your parents are okay with it?" He asked, "Are you okay with it?" He added. "I mean we never slept in the same room with each other.". Alexis wasn't sure if she should mention that they would have to share the same bed as well right now.

"It's okay with them." Alexis replied, "Is it okay with you?" She asked feeling slightly worried. Drakien took a couple of deep breaths before answering.

"Yeah it's fine, I was just a bit surprised." He answered. "Is there any other surprises?" He asked a couple of second later.

"Well we're gonna have to share a bed as we don't have any spare quilts at the moment," Alexis said. Surprisingly Drakien smiled slightly.

"I had already figured that one out once you said I was sharing the room, seeing as there was no sign of another bed and considering the time your parents had to prepare for this." He said. Once the couple were settled in, Alexis' mum came to the door.

"Hello you two. You must be Drakien," She greeted. Drakien nodded.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Rhodes," He greeted.

"Please call me Steph," She requested before saying what she came up to say, "Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes,".

After dinner Atticus came to their room and took Drakien for a walk. During that walk Drakien felt like hitting the boy due to the constant questions about his relationship with Alexis, but he managed to refrain from doing so as he knew it would 1) upset Alexis and 2) not look good in the eyes of her parents. He got a little surprise from Atticus.

"I think we should do a tag duel some time. You and Alexis against me and a mate of mine," He suggested.

"Sure. Sounds good," Drakien agreed. He liked the idea and already had a feeling that he and Alexis would win.


	20. Yay It's Christmas

Yay It's Christmas

Drakien laying in bed staring at the ceiling. Alexis was laying next to him with an arm over his chest. It was Christmas Eve night and Drakien couldn't sleep once again due to his nightmares. He turned his head so that he could see the top of Alexis' head and kissed her. He then moved his head so that it was resting just above hers. An alarm clock beeped to signify an the start of a new hour. _Great, it's midnight_ He thought sarcastically.

He slowly tip toed up to the door. Opening the door quietly, he slipped into the room and closed the door as quietly as he could. Slowly he made his way to the bed, making sure not to tread on anything that was on the floor. He raised the camera and smiled, getting ready to take the photo of the young couple.

"Atticus, you may want to work on your sneaking skills," Came a male voice, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Crap," Atticus muttered. "Drakien what are you still doing awake?" He asked.

"I should be asking you the same thing and asking you why your in your sisters room with a camera," Drakien whispered.

"Well you see there's a boy I know and he likes Alexis and doesn't believe me that she's with some one," Atticus explained. Drakien just looked.

"That has got to be the most lamest excuse I have ever heard," Drakien said bluntly. "But why take a photo during the night?" He added.

"I'll b e going now," Atticus said before turning around and walking out the room.

It was eight o'clock when Alexis woke up. She sat up just as Drakien entered the room in just a towel and wet hair.

"Your up," He said as he walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He leant over and kissed her. "Merry Christmas," He said when they broke apart.

"Merry Christmas," Alexis repeated with a smile. Drakien then leaned in again, making his lips touch hers. They kept their lips locked for a couple of minutes before breaking apart for some air.

"Can I wake up to this all the time?" She asked as Drakien brushed his thumb on her cheek.

"I'll think about it," He said as he looked into her eyes. He then stood up and grabbed his bag to get some clean clothes out. After the two had gotten changed they made their way downstairs where they were greeted from Alexis' mum and dad. It wasn't long before the five of them were opening their presents. Alexis' parents were apologising to Drakien as they hadn't gotten him anything but he didn't mind. He was just happy he was with people that cared about him. Drakien put down his new deck case he had got from Alexis. He had smiled when he saw three Blue-Eyes White Dragons printed on it. He then pulled a present out of the pile and handed it to Alexis. Alexis took the present carefully and started to unwrap it. After removing all the wrapping paper, she held a long thin box. She looked up at him and he nodded his head for her to continue. She opened the box and found a necklace. It had two silver Blue-Eyes White Dragon head on either side, both of which contained a dark blue sapphire right where the eyes where. She looked back up at him gob smacked.

"Put it on," Drakien said smiling at her reaction. Alexis handed him the necklace and then turned around and pulled her hair out the way. Drakien positioned the necklace on her neck and then fastened the clip. She then turned around to face Drakien.

"What do you think?" She asked everyone. Atticus and David just nodded.

"It look wonderful dear," Steph said as she hugged her husband. Alexis looked up to Drakien.

"You look even more beautiful," He said before kissing her.

The day went quickly for Drakien. He was now laying in bed waiting for Alexis to join him. He was going over the events of the day. He had enjoyed telling jokes shortly before dinner and then enjoying a huge meal, and a party shortly after dinner had finished. A couple of Alexis' old friends had visited. He could only remember two of the three friends that had come over and that was Zane and Jaden. Alexis came into room only in her underwear and got into the bed. She snuggled up to him and he kissed the top of her head.

"Did you have fun today?" She asked.

"Definitely. I also really want to duel your friends, see what they're like," Drakien replied. "Did I tell you that your brother wants to do a tag duel against us?"

"No, when did he say that?" Alexis asked, lifting her head.

"I think it was shortly after arriving here," Drakien said as he tried to remember when Atticus had suggested it.

"Oh, okay. Well i'm glad you had a good day and I'm off to sleep now so I'll see you in the morning," She said before kissing him on the lips and then laying her head on his chest. It wasn't long before Alexis fell asleep and Drakien was just gently stroking her arm with the arm that was wrapped around her. One of his duel spirits appeared along with one that he didn't recall having. The one he knew he had at the moment was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon but next to it was a red dragon known as the White-Horned Dragon.

"Are you mine?" He asked in a whisper. The red dragon shook its head. Drakien then turned his head to look at Alexis and then back at the Dragon but found it gone. He gave the Blue-Eyes a questioning look which it responded by giving a low growl. Drakien understood it as it not knowing. He sighed before staring up at the ceiling, the red dragon roaming his thoughts.

Alexis and Drakien where now standing on the dock at NDA. They had left two days after Christmas so they could spend some time with Pyro and Sakura. The couple started making their way towards the academy when Alexis spoke.

"Drakien, have you heard of things called Duel Spirit?" She asked. Drakien turned his head so he was looking at her and stopped walking.

"Yeah, why?" He answered slowly.

"Do you think they're real?"

"Why do you?" Drakien asked.

"Yeah," Alexis sighed.

"Well your not the only one, cus I do." Drakien said taking hold of one of her hands.

"Would you consider me crazy if I said I could see them?" She asked.

"Nope," Drakien answered "And what's with all these questions?" He asked.

"Well I can see them. I've started seeing a White-Horned Dragon ever since you gave me the card." Alexis replied. Drakien looked at her shocked. "You do think I'm crazy don't you?" She accused.

"No, I don't," Drakien said grabbing her other hand.

"Yes you do,"

"No I don't cus I have five spirits," He said emphasising the 'have'.

"You...you have five?" She stuttered. Drakien nodded his head. He then whistled. Alexis looked up and suddenly could see five dragons standing near Drakien. She recognised four of them and they where the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon and event he card she got him, Light and Darkness Dragon, but she didn't know what the other one was.

"Who is that?" She asked as she pointed at the white dragon she didn't know.

"Oh he's the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon," Drakien said as the dragon emitted a low greeting growl. She smiling at the dragon before turning to face Drakien.

"There's only two Shining Dragons, ones mine and the others Seto Kaibas," Drakien explained. Alexis nodded.

"Did you notice that I have Light and Darkness Dragon as a spirit?" He asked smiling slightly. Alexis nodded "Yeah I did," She added with a smile.


	21. Something Wrong?

Something Wrong?

Alexis was standing at the front of her class, in the middle of a duel. She was looking at the cards in her hand while she waited for her opponent to make their move. So far Alexis only had one card face down and Ice Queen on the field. Unfortunately it couldn't attack due to the spell card that her opponent had equipped to it. Her opponent ended their turn and Alexis drew her next card. _Doble Passe, yes_ She thought with glee.

"I place two cards face down and summon Etoile Cyber in attack mode. That'll end my turn," She said, playing the cards.

"Why in attack mode, my monster can easily destroy it." Her opponent mumbled. He drew his card and went straight into his battle phase. "Now! Frostosaurus Attack!" He commanded. His frost covered dinosaur roared before charging at Etoile Cyber.

"First of all, I activate my trap card Hallowed Life Barrier and by discarding one card from my hand I take no damage for one turn. I then also activate my second trap card, Doble Passe which make both our monsters attack us, and thanks to Etoile Cyber attacking you directly, she gains five hundred attack points bring her total to 1700. Enough to take your remaining life points while mine are safe thanks to my Hallowed Life Barrier." She said just as the dinosaur hit an invisible barrier and Etoile Cyber brought her leg down on her opponents shoulder.

"Shit," The boy muttered. She turned around and made her way back to her seat.

"Very well done Ms Rhodes, excellent duel. And better luck next time Mr Grendon. And please refrain from using such language in my class again." The teacher said. Pyro gave Alexis the thumbs up once she looked at him. She smiled back at him. Just then the bell rang signalling the end of the day. Alexis packed her stuff away and left the classroom with Pyro and Sakura.

Meanwhile Drakien was sitting outside the Chancellors office waiting to be seen. He hadn't slept much since the new term had started and one student was now having their broken arm tended to. The door opened a couple of minutes later, and the Chancellor stood there looking at him.

"In," He said in an angry tone. Drakien got up from his seat and made his way over to the desk. He remained standing while the Chancellor sat down.

"Sit,"

"No thanks, I'd rather stand," Drakien said in a bored tone.

"So why'd you do it?" The Chancellor asked.

"Well… Chancellor Leighton. When you have nightmare where you watch your parents get murdered over and over again you tend to loose a lot of sleep. And then when you get some stupid cocky bastard making some retort about how they wished that my parents should be put down for creating some one like me. You tend to get a bit angry," Drakien explained.

"Nice story, next time come up with something more convincing," Chancellor Leighton sighed, making Drakien slam his fists on the desk.

"What makes you think I would make up something like that? Do you believe the whole student body bar a few, that I'm some kind of fucked up in the head person?" Drakien asked angrily before turning around and leaving, slamming the door as he left. Drakien didn't return to his dorm after that. It wasn't until it was half ten in the evening that Alexis found Drakien in a remote are that looked over a cliff, sitting down against a tree with dried blood on his hands. She ran over to him.

"What the hell happened?" She asked worried.

"Go angry!" Drakien simply replied.

"How come?" She questioned as she looked over his hands. His knuckles where once again shredded. She then looked up above his head and saw red marks on the tree that he was leaning against.

"Do you think I belong here?" He asked. Alexis looked at him.

"Of course you do," She replied. "Why'd you ask that?"

"Well most of the school think I'm fucked in the head. I mean what if I am?" He explained.

"There is nothing wrong with you." Alexis said trying to comfort him.

"Then why is it that I still blame myself for what happened to my parents?" He asked shifting his head so he was looking directly at her.

"Because the person who done it was related to some one you obviously trusted a lot. If anyone is to blame its who ever participated in the murder of your parents," Alexis said as she gently stroked his hands. He could feel her touch his hands but the pain coming from his knuckles was making his fingers twitch, so she stopped stroking.

"Thanks Alexis," He said as he pulled her towards him and hugged her. "I'm glad I met you," he added making her smile. They sat there together for a couple of minutes before Alexis spoke.

"You know that duel my brother wanted to do with us?". Drakien nodded.

"Well he and his partner are coming tomorrow so we could do the duel then," She said.

"Sounds like a plan," Drakien responded by smiling slightly.

"Lets go get those hands cleaned up," She said as she pulled him up and walked hand in hand back to their dorm.

Drakien was now sitting on his bed. Alexis had just recently finished cleaning up his hands and was now walking over to the door.

"Please stay here tonight," He said just as her hand touched the door handle. She turned around to face him.

"I can't, Pyro uses that bed," She answered.

"You can sleep with me in mine," He suggested as he looked up at her. Alexis bit her lip as she thought about it.

"Fine, let me got get changed, I'll be back in a couple of minutes," She said as she turned around and walked through the door. Drakien undressed as quickly as he could considering his hands, and then made his way into the bathroom. He tried to brush his teeth but found it very difficult as the bandages didn't allow for a lot of finger movement. Finally giving up he walked back into his room and found Alexis sitting on his bed. She was wearing a large t-shirt which looked vaguely familiar.

"Is that.." He started before Alexis nodded.

"Yep it's your Red-Eyes t-shirt," She said blushing a bit. Drakien was a bit surprised at this and wondered why he hadn't noticed it was missing seeing as it was his favourite t-shirt.

He shrugged his shoulders "Don't worry, you can keep it if you want," He said not believing what he had just said. He walked over to his bed and the two of them got in. He was feeling nervous about having Alexis in his bed and he was sure that Alexis was feeling nervous as well. Alexis snuggled up to him while Drakien put an arm around her and held her close to him.

"I love you," He said before kissing her head.

"I love you too," Alexis replied. It wasn't long before the couple were asleep and for once Drakien had a peaceful sleep.


	22. The Tag Duel

The Tag Duel

Drakien woke up the next morning thinking his bed covers where a lot heavier than he thought they should. Upon opening his eyes, he saw blond hair in his face. He then smiled slightly before turning his head to look at his clock. Just then Alexis stirred as she woke up.

"Morning," Drakien greeted before kissing her head.

"Morning," She replied before yawning. She then realised she was in Drakiens bed, laying _on top_ of him. "Did we just sleep together?" She asked, looking very unsure.

"We just slept, if that's what your talking about," Drakien answered causing Alexis to relax. "You look really beautiful when you wake up," He said making her blush. She kissed him to say thank you.

They laid in his bed, embraced for a couple of minutes before deciding to get some breakfast after hearing Drakiens stomach rumble.

It was around lunch time when the guests from Duel Academy arrived and unfortunately Alexis and Drakien had missed the introduction of the two students who had come. They knew one of them was Alexis' brother, Atticus but he refused to tell the couple who was coming with him. The couple were making their way to the duel arena after receiving messages from the Chancellor that Atticus and his partner had requested a duel against the two. Drakien was giving Alexis a piggyback just for the hell of it. When they arrived at the entrance to the duel arena, Drakien put Alexis down before walking in. They entered the arena and found Atticus standing there, arms crossed, duel disk on his left arm waiting for them next to some one. That person wore a tattered black jacket with grey edges. He had black spiky hair and was watching Alexis. Alexis smiled at this person and waved at him. Drakien saw this and didn't like it.

"Hey Chazz," She greeted.

"Hey Alexis," The black haired person greeted back.

"The duel is simple. One player from each team takes a turn. For example Atticus starts, then Alexis, then Chazz and then Drakien and it then starts again at Atticus. Each player has 4000 life points, so there is a total of 8000 per team. The team with at least one duellist standing with life points wins the match," The Chancellor explained. Everyone nodded to show they understood.

"LET THE DUEL BEGIN!" The Chancellor shouted. The four activated their duel disks and drew their first five cards.

"Ladies first," Chazz said as looked at Alexis. Drakien noticed the smile and his empty fist tightened. He knew why, he didn't like this Chazz person. Alexis started the first turn and looked at the card she just drew and then looked at her hand to see what she could do.

"I summon Element Valkyrie in attack mode, I then set two cards face down. Turn end." Alexis then nodded at her brother to show he could start his move.

"I draw, I then summon Spear Dragon in attack mode and set one card. I end," Atticus said before nodding at Drakien. Drakien saw the nod but kept his eyes on Chazz. He drew his card and then looked at the cards in his hand.

"I set a monster in defence mode and end my turn." Drakien said as he placed the card face down. "I then end my turn," Chazz drew his first card.

"The Chazz summons Masked Dragon in attack mode and set a card face down and activate the spell card Frontline Base and then use it's effect to special summon a union monster in attack mode and that union monster shall be Z - Metal Tank. I end," Alexis looked at the field after drawing her next card and wondered what move she should make next.

"I summon Gemini Elf in attack mode and end my turn," She said as the twin elves appeared before her. Atticus drew for his turn.

"I summon my cutest monster which is the Red-Eyes Black Chick in attack mode and set a card face down. And now Spear Dragon attack Drakiens face down monster." He commanded. The dragon gave a high pitched roar before attacking head first. Drakiens monster turned out to be another Masked Dragon and he used its effect to get his Armed Dragon Lv3 on the field. Chazz's eyes grew in fear as he knew what was coming next if he summoned that monster as it was his own plan. However Drakien lost 800 life points due to Spear Dragons piercing effect. Spear Dragon also change into defence mode due to its effect. Atticus ended his turn and Drakien started his.

"Now as it's my standby phase my Armed Dragons effect kicks in. I can now offer the monster to summon a higher levelled version of it so here comes Armed Dragon Lv5. I'll now summon Mirage Dragon in attack mode. I also set two cards." Drakien then done something he never normally done without a reason.

"I end my turn," He said. Alexis snapped her head in his direction to see if he was joking but upon seeing his face realised he wasn't.

"Heh, you fool. Why you ended when you could've dealt some serious damage to one of us is gonna be one hell of a mystery for me," Chazz said as he drew his next card. "I now use the effect of Frontline Base to special summon Y - Dragon Head and I then normal summon X - Head Cannon." Two machine appeared on either side of Chazz's Z - Metal Tank. One was in the form of a dragon while the other was a floating torso with huge arms and cannons. "Now I'll fuse these three monster, X -Head Cannon, Y - Dragon Head and Z - Metal Tank to create XYZ - Dragon Cannon." Drakien smiled. "I activate the trap card Compulsory Evacuation Device sending your Dragon Cannon back to the fusion deck,". Chazz growled angrily at the trap he had fallen into and realised he know had no way of summoning one of his most powerful cards at the moment. "I set a card and turn end." He said angrily. Alexis drew her next card and played it.

"I activate the spell card Machine Angel Ritual and offer my Cold Enchanter and Cyber Gymnast in my hand to special summon Cyber Angel Dakini. Now due to my Dakinis effect both you and Chazz have to destroy one monster of your choice." Alexis explained. Atticus chose to destroy his Spear Dragon and Chazz chose to destroy his Masked Dragon as it was the only card he controlled. "Now Element Valkyrie attack Chazz directly." The Valkyrie attacked Chazz and brought his life points down to 2500. "Now Dakini attack Chazz and finish him off," Alexis commanded. "Lex wait," Drakien said but it was too late.

"Sorry Alexis but I activate my trap card Ring of Destruction and I choose your Cyber Angel Dakini and before the ring goes off and inflicts 2700 points of damage to everyone I'll activate my spell card Ring of Defence, to defend my life points." Chazz said gleefully. Atticus glared at Chazz for his reckless move as he was now on 1300 life points. Alexis was on the same but it seemed in her eyes that Drakien wasn't doing very well as he was now on only 600 life points. She felt a bit guilty for it as she headed into the trap with out thinking.

"Don't worry Lex, we've won." Drakien said smiling, while still keeping his eyes on Chazz. Chazz burst out laughing while Atticus looked at Drakien confused.

"You think that you've won. Take a look at your life points you moron. The Chazz has the most life points here. You should just surrender now and I may decided to finish you off nice and easy like." Chazz boasted. Drakien didn't make a sound but he looked confident. Alexis smiled at the look and knew she should believe in him. She ended her turn and Atticus made his next move.

"I now offer my Red-Eyes Black Chick to special summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in attack mode. Now Red-Eyes attack Gemini Elf," He said. The dragon let loose a blast which hit the elves and vaporised them and brought Alexis' life points down by five hundred leaving her on 800. Atticus was feeling lucky and ended his turn. Drakien his next card and laughed. "Just what I needed," He said causing Atticus and Chazz to look at him either worried or confusion.

"I set a card and then activate the spell card, Card of Demise. This card allows me to draw until I have five cards in my hand, so I get to draw four cards." He said as he drew the four cards. He then looked at them and chuckled. "I'll then activate Pot of Greed." He drew the two cards he was allowed to due to Pot of Greed and chuckled even harder.

"This is how we win Lex. First of all I'll activate the ritual card, White Dragon Ritual and offer my Armed Dragon Lv5 to summon Paladin of White Dragon. I'll then use its effect to special summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Then I'll activate my face down card, Polymerization and fuse the Blue-Eyes on the field and the two in my hand to create.." He said as the two dragons appeared next to the Blue-Eyes on the field and they merged together. " ..The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. But that's not all, I'll now offer it as a tribute to special summon my Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon." He said as the Ultimate Dragon crumbled and revealed a shining blue dragon.

"How do you have that card. I thought only Seto Kaiba had that card." Chazz asked.

"He does have it but there are only two people that I know that have it. Kaiba and me," Drakien replied.

"How much attack does it have? I've never seen it." Atticus asked.

"originally 3000 but it gains 300 for each dragon in my graveyard and seeing as I have eight dragons it gains 2400 attack," Drakien answered.

"Now Shining Neutron Blast," He shouted as he pointed at Chazz. The dragon opened it's mouth and sent a huge beam of light blue energy at Chazz. It wiped out all the remaining life points Chazz had making him slump to the floor feeling humiliated and furious. Atticus gulped as he realised he now faced a monster with 5400 attack points. Something which not even his Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon could beat in this current situation, especially as he only had three dragons in his graveyard. Drakien ended his turn which meant that Alexis had to go next seeing as Chazz was no longer in the duel. Upon drawing her card, she switched her monsters to defence mode and ended her turn after setting a card. Atticus drew his next card and summoned a monster.

"Come fourth Hunter Dragon!" He commanded and a sleek dragon with a blade on the end of its tail appeared. "Sorry Lexy but your time is up. Now Hunter Dragon attack!"

"I think not. Trap card activate. Negate Attack," She said smiling at her older brother.

"Aww not good." Atticus said as he saw his dragon hit a invisible barrier. As he couldn't do much more he ended his turn without doing anything else.

"Why didn't you switch your monsters to defence mode you idiot?" Chazz asked.

"Because I still loose as my Hunter Dragon has to stay in attack mode." Atticus answered as he watched Drakien draw his next card and braced himself for the upcoming attack.

"Attack him," Drakien ordered and his Shining Dragon once again wiped out the remaining life points of his opponent. The whole arena was quiet for a while before suddenly bursting out into cheers.

"Lets hear it for Atticus and Chazz!" The Chancellor shouted as he clapped his hands.

"And now lets hear it for Drakien and Alexis!". Drakien was surprised by the cheer that him and Alexis received considering his reputation. Suddenly he was jumped upon and felt lips crash onto his. He realised Alexis was behind the kiss and deepened it.

"We did it," She said smiling once they broke the kiss.


	23. Feelings

Feelings

Chazz was still annoyed with his "humiliating" defeat against Alexis and him. He hated Drakien. He had noticed that Drakien had never let his eyes drift from him. He especially hated Drakien for using a card that he wasn't even sure was real. He had asked the Chancellor if he could find out more about how Drakien had come across the card and the Chancellor had given him a newspaper article about how Pegasus had given Drakien the Blue-Eyes card set as a prize for going through a tournament he had set up undefeated and without a single loss of life points. Chazz was finding this hard to believe as he had just witnessed Drakien having the lowest amount of life points throughout their duel until he managed to get his key card and then win the duel. He chucked the paper in the bin and walked out in a foul mood upon finding out that Drakiens card were real and not fake. Chazz had also noticed at how the dragon had responded to Drakien and it was similar to Jadens Winged Kuriboh spirit. He knew this from the amount of times he had seen it and how he wished he had ended up with a spirit like that instead of his Ojama brothers. He knew they meant well but they just got on his nerves. He finally found Drakiens and Alexis' room. Shortly after knocking on the door, someone opened it. It was one of the other people that shared the room with Alexis but he couldn't remember his name.

"Can I help you?" The boy asked.

"Yeah, is Alexis in?" Chazz asked.

"I'll just go get her for you," The boy said before disappearing. "Lexis, there's some guy at the door for you," Chazz heard the boy shout.

"It's The Chazz," Chazz shouted, hoping Alexis heard him. Alexis soon appeared at the door.

"Come in," She said smiling. Chazz smiled back and nodded before walking in.

"So how have you been?" Chazz asked.

"I've been good. Busy year that's for sure," Alexis replied, "You?"

"It's been good but it's not the same without you," Chazz answered.

"I know what you mean but I've made some great friends," Alexis said. Chazz decided he should ask the question he'd been desperate to ask now.

"Lexis do you like anyone at the moment?" He asked. _Crap,_ Alexis thought. She had been hoping he had gotten over his feelings for her.

"I have a boyfriend," She answered slowly.

"Oh okay," Chazz simply said, dropping his head. "Can I ask who?" He asked looking up at her. Alexis took a deep breath before answering.

"It's Drakien,". Chazz just stared at her. Again Drakien had beaten him at something. First the duel and now getting the girl he liked.

"Cool," He said before turning and walking out the room. Alexis wanted to go after him but knew it was better to let him get it out of his system on his own.

Drakien was just turning into the corridor to his dorm, carrying about twenty booster packs, when he noticed Chazz walking towards him. He was about to greet him when Chazzs fist suddenly connected with his nose. Drakien could suddenly feel something dribble down over his mouth. _Great a nose bleed _He thought tediously. The next thing Chazz knew was that he was on the floor with a hand on his neck squeezing slightly.

"Care to explain?" Drakien asked as blood dripped onto Chazzs face.

"You're a bastard," Chazz managed to say as he tried to gasp for air. Drakien dropped his head and then got off of Chazz and walked away.

"Hey come back here. The Chazz isn't finished with you!" Chazz shouted.

"Your nothing to me," Drakien said before going through his door.

Drakien lobbed the booster packs on the sofa and made his way to the bathroom. With Alexis on his tail when he ignored her.

"What happened?" She asked in a concerned voice when she reached the bathroom.

"Your mate Chazz hit me," Drakien replied as he held the bridge of his nose while tilting his head back and trying to grab some tissue. Alexis noticed him struggling to get the tissue and got some for him and handed it to him. He smiled a thanks and held the tissue to his nose. The two walked back into the main part of the dorm and saw Pyro looking at the booster packs in confusion.

"Pick five," Drakien said.

"You sure mate?" Pyro asked. Drakien nodded and Pyro smiled at him and chose five booster and started to open them.

"Same for you," Drakien said nodding towards the packs while looking at Alexis.

"You bough twenty packs to share with us?" She asked.

"Actually I bought twenty five but I already saw Kazuki so I let him choose his five." Drakien explained. It was now that Pyro had noticed that Drakien was holding something up against his nose.

"What's up?" He asked nodding at Drakiens hand holding the tissue.

"Nose bleed," Drakien simply replied. "Oh and choose five for Sakura and then pass the remaining five to me." He added. Pyro nodded.

"How'd you get the nose bleed?" He asked.

"From that Chazz guy," Drakien said a bit darkly.

"I think I know why he hit you," Alexis suddenly piped up. Drakien turned to face her, intrigued with what she knew. "I think he hit you because I told him that you're my boyfriend and because he has feelings for me," She continued.

"That explains a lot," Drakien said realising his suspicions throughout the tag duel where correct if this was the case. "When is he leaving?" Drakien asked.

"I think the Chancellor said tonight," Pyro said as he searched through the cards that he had just got from the boosters.

"I've gotta go and say goodbye to them." Alexis said, "You don't mind do you?" She asked as she turned to look at Drakien.

"No I don't. I mean it's your old friend and brother. I wouldn't stop you even though I don't like your mate. Just say goodbye to Atticus for me," He said as he put an arm around her.

"Thanks,"


	24. Drakmord Drakens

Drakmord Drakens

It was a sunny day and Drakien was sitting in the shade with Alexis cuddled up to him asleep, watching their duel spirits as they flew around the sky or just lazed about. It had been a week since his duel with Alexis against Atticus and Chazz. Drakien had noticed three small duel spirits floating close behind Chazz as if they were afraid of something. He was pretty sure what monsters they were but he couldn't place their names. It also confused him as to how a jerk like him got a duel spirit let alone three of them, but then again that was his opinion. He shook his head and put the thought in the back of his mind and started to relax. He was still having trouble sleeping and his eyes where feeling very heavy. It didn't help with the nice weather and the way it made everyone just want to laze about. He started to drift off but didn't get very far as he heard a twig snapping. It turned out to be Kazuki. He sat down beside his brother and smiled at him.

"How are you two?" He asked as he laid down and gazed up at the sky.

"We're both good. I'm tired though but I'm fine." Drakien answered. "You?"

"Great. Just beat another dude who thought he could 'ownz' me as he called it." Kazuki said smiling.

"So what'd ya want?"

"I can't spend quality time with my older brother and his partner?" Kazuki asked looking at Drakien with a mock hurt expression as he sat up.

"We haven't really spent any quality time since we started this year," Drakien stated, "And you normally come up to me and ask me how I'm doing just like you just did whenever you want something,"

"Guess I'm gonna have to think of some other way to get what I want now," Kazuki sighed as he gently hit his knee with his fist. They both then started to laugh gently. Then Kazuki stopped laughing and looked at his older brother. It was the first time he had seen him laugh like this in quite a long time. He had seen him laugh during duels but that was different. To Kazuki, he thought it was like his brother had a split personality and that his 'evil' side came out when ever he duelled and whenever he laughed, it was maniacally. He knew that wasn't the case but that was what it looked like to him. "But I'm being serious. I actually want to spend some time with you," He added making Drakien frown.

"Cool," Drakien then said smiling slightly. "Now could you help me wake this sleeping beauty up," He added with a mischievous glint in his eye. Kazuki grinned mischievously.

"Now that sound like a good idea,". It wasn't long before Alexis was trying to fend off the brothers as they tickled here and it wasn't until Drakien and Kazuki banged their heads together that they stopped.

"No wonder insults just seem to bounce off you. You've got such a hard head," Drakien mumbled to Kazuki.

"I try my best," Kazuki muttered as he rubbed his head. Alexis chuckled at Kazukis remark.

"So how come you're here then?" She asked.

"Wanted to spend some time with bro," Kazuki replied as he stood up and shook his head. He then regretted doing that and held his head with the increase in pain. Drakien laughed at Kazukis actions and Alexis smiled upon seeing him laugh. She didn't really get to see him laugh a lot. He chuckled occasionally at Pyro whenever he either did something really stupid or whenever he told a decent joke but he never really laughed. Except when he was duelling but that was a different kind of laugh to the one to he was using now. Whenever he was duelling there seemed to be an angry/evil presence in it.

"Hey, have you two heard about a new 'gang' starting up called the Drakmord Drakens?" Kazuki asked.

"No and I couldn't really care," Drakien answered. Alexis shook her heard.

"Why do you plan on joining?" She asked.

"Hell no!" Kazuki answered, disgusted at the idea.

"Then why bring it up?" Drakien questioned

"Well it's just that they pride themselves as dragon duellists and claim that they're the best," Kazuki explained. Drakiens eyes narrowed. He hated it when people claimed to be the best at something. "However some people don't believe them as they think you are the best dragon duellist but I think that's partly due to the fact that you're the academies top duellist." Kazuki continued, "The gang however hope to beat you so they can add your cards to their decks,". That comment made Drakien snap. He got up, put his duel disk on and glared at Kazuki.

"Tell me where I can find them," He demanded. Drakien hated people who used the ante rule as he believed that the deck represented the duellist and it was the only way they could prove who they where. He didn't mind so much if it was part of a tournament rules as the duellist knew what the stakes where then.

"You can find them in the West Block," Kazuki answered. Drakien noticed Alexis and his brother put on their duel disks.

"Where are you two going?" He asked.

"With you," Alexis replied. Drakien looked at Kazuki who nodded at him. Drakien sighed as he knew how stubborn his brother and his girlfriend could be.

"Lets go then," Drakien said as he started to make his way to the West Block.

It had been three hours since the trio had arrived at the West Block and Drakien had stated that he wanted the gang to disband. He was going through the ranks of the gang and was up to the fifth in command. The gang had placed a stake that if Drakien could beat every gang member then they would disband and if he lost just once he would give them his deck. Drakien agreed to the terms shocking Alexis and Kazuki as they knew how important Drakiens deck was to him. Drakien was standing in the corridor of the block on his own, duelling the fifth commander.

"Now Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv6 wipe out this fool." Drakien ordered as he finished off the fifth in command. He then looked at the next person up the ranks and saw the look on his face. That person was scared.

"You ready?" Drakien asked.

"I…I…Left my deck in my room," The boy stuttered.

"You pathetic wimp," Came a voice. Everyone looked up at the stairs and saw a red messy haired boy standing at the top of the stairs. Drakien just looked at him. He was wearing a long black jacket which had blue flames around the edges and had two 'D's in a gothic font on the left shoulder.

"You know Drakien," The boy said as he started to climb the stairs. "You could probably make it to third in command with skill like that."

"Sorry but I don't intend on joining." Drakien snapped.

"That's a shame cus I was going to suggest that you join us and we'll ignore this little event." The boy said as he pulled out his duel disk and placed his deck in it. "I, Kadriak, Second in command of the Drakmord Drakens challenge you to a duel,". Drakien didn't say anything, but turned to face Kadriak and activated his duel disk. The two duellist drew their hand and Kadriak took the first turn.

"I draw, and then set two cards face down and summon Hunter Dragon in attack mode. Turn end," He said as he placed the cards. Drakien his first card.

"I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode and set three cards face down. Now Luster Dragon attack his Hunter Dragon!" .

"I activate the trap card Negate Attack, ending your battle phase and negating the attack," Kadriak said as the card revealed itself. Drakiens dragon backed down before it reached Kadriaks Hunter Dragon.

"Turn end," Drakien mumbled. Kadriak drew his next card and set a monster face down and ended.

As Drakien drew his next card he noticed Kadriak hadn't changed the battle position of his Hunter Dragon and came to the conclusion that he had a trap card face down. Luckily for Drakien, he had drawn one of his favourite monster.

"I call upon the Mirage Dragon." Drakien noticed how Kadriak growled angrily a bit when he said the name of his dragon. "Now Luster Dragon strike down his Hunter Dragon.". Drakiens dragon attacked Kadriaks Hunter Dragon and took it out and seeing as Luster Dragon had 1900 attack points it took out 200 of Kadriaks life points as well, bringing Kadriak to 3800. "I end," Drakien said smirking at Kadriak. The next card Kadriak played wiped the smirk off of Drakiens face.

"I play the spell card Final Countdown. I pay 2000 of my life points and in twenty turns I win regardless." Kadriak said grinning madly. Drakien cursed Kadriak under his breath at the time limit he had been given. "I'll then activate the spell card Yellow Luster Shield which increases my monsters defence by 300, turn end,". Drakien growled as he drew his next card and chuckled when he looked at it.

"First of all I activate the spell card Ancient Rules which allows me to special summon a level five or higher normal type monster and I choose my Red-Eyes Black Dragon. I'll then also activate another spell card, Horn of the Unicorn on my Red-Eyes, which increases its attack by 700 points." Drakien explained. "Now Red-Eyes Black Dragon attack with Black Fire Bullet!" He commanded. Kadriaks face down card was The Dragon Dwelling in The Cave and its defence at 2300 couldn't stand up to Drakiens Red-Eyes' attack. "Now Luster Dragon finish him off,"


	25. The Result

The Result

"Now Luster Dragon finish him off," The dragon charged and bit Kadriak in the shoulder and dropped his life points to zero. Suddenly there was a clapping sound . Once the holograms faded Drakien turned around and saw the source of the clapping. The source was a girl wearing a similar jacket except that the flames around the edge were red/orange colour and were larger than Kadriaks. The sleeves had also been ripped off and on her hands were black fingerless gloves which had flames coming from the tips of the fingers. She had short black hair and wore three hoop earrings in her right ear.

"Thank you Kadriak for showing me some of Drakiens cards," She said once she stopped clapping.

"So who the hell are you?" Drakien asked sourly.

"Hey don't speak to our leader like that you bastard!" One of the gang members shouted. Both Drakien and the girl looked in the direction from which the voice came from but could not figure out who had said so they went back to looking at each other.

"The names Jaderia Leader of the Drakmord Drakens. I hear that you want us disband and are going through our ranks to the top. Well you've reached the top…" She said as she pulled out her duel disk.

"But Jaderia. He hasn't versed the third and fourth ranked members," Kadriak stated.

"I know, but you duelled him and boosted him up the ladder. There's no point in him duelling those two as your more skilled than both of them," Jaderia explained. She then turned to face Drakien.

"I, Jaderia, Leader of the Drakmord Drakens shall duel you Drakien and put an end to all this," Jaderia said. Drakien activated his duel disk and drew his hand.

"Ladies first," Drakien said in a mock polite voice. Jaderia drew her first card and set it face down along with three others.

"I now summon Infernal Dragon in attack mode." A black dragon with 2000 attack points and 0 defence points appeared next to Jaderia and growled as it stared at Drakien. "Turn End,". Drakien drew his first card.

"I set a monster face down and also set three cards face down, turn end." Drakien explained as he set the card.

"First of all I activate the trap card DNA Surgery. This card allows me to choose one type of monster and then all the monsters on the field become that type and I choose Dragon. Next I'll offer my Infernal Dragon and summon Jinzo in attack mode. I'll then equip Jinzo with Amplifier which cancels out Jinzos effect for my side of the field which means my trap card will work." Jaderia stated as she played the cards. Jinzo suddenly had a metal helmet attached and it then suddenly turned all scaly and had claws grow on its hands and feet due to DNA Surgery turning it into a dragon. "I'll then activate my third card which is Dragon's Rage. Now Jinzo attack his face down card." Jinzo summoned an energy ball and sent it hurtling towards Drakiens face down card. Drakien was now cursing her. One, because she had just taken out his monster along with 400 life points, Two, he couldn't use his face down cards now and Three, she wasn't even using what he called a 'true' dragon deck. Jaderia ended her turn, so Drakien drew his next card.

"How can you call yourself a Dragon duellist?" He asked as he drew the card.

"Simple, by using cards that revolve around dragons," Jaderia replied. Drakien growled and looked at his the card he had just drawn. He then smirked.

"I'll activate the spell card Ancient Rules which allows me to special summon one normal level five monster from my hand and I choose my Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Next I'll offer him as a tribute to special summon my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon in attack mode. Turn end," Drakien said, playing the cards as he spoke. He was slightly more confident now seeing as his dragon had 600 more attack points than Jaderias Jinzo which only had 2400. Jaderia knew that she couldn't attack him now unless she had some way of over powering his dragon. So she played a card face down and kept Jinzo in attack mode and ended her turn, which made Drakien think that either she had made a mistake or that she wanted him to attack her. Drakien drew his next card.

"I activate the spell card Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two extra cards from my deck." He said drawing the two cards. " I then activate Foolish Burial and send my Infernal Dragon to the graveyard from my deck. I'll then remove that dragon from play to special summon my newest card, the Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon in attack mode." A metal version of the Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon appeared beside Drakiens Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon.

"And you say you're a true dragon duellist who uses only Dragon type monsters," Jaderia said accusingly.

"Yeah I do, Darkness Metal Dragon _is _a Dragon type monster, not machine." Drakien said smirking. Jaderia growled at the Drakien, as she was hoping to show how he was a hypocrite but that went down the drain. "I'll end my turn," Drakien then said without doing anything else. Jaderia was now starting to feel wary of the new card. She had never heard of it and guessed it had an effect but seeing as she never heard, she didn't know what it was. She drew her card and added it to her hand.

"I play the spell card, The Dark Door. Now only one of ours monster can attack per turn." She said as she selected a card from her hand and played the card. "I then set a card and a monster face down in defence mode and end my turn,". Drakien drew his next card and smiled.

"I summon Mirage Dragon in attack mode. I'll now have my Darkness Dragon attack you with Inferno Dark Fire Blast on her Jinzo," Drakien ordered with a slightly evil smile. The Dragon launched its attack but Jaderia activated her face down.

" I activate the quick play spell card, Rush Recklessly which increases my monster attack by 700 for this turn only and that brings it to 3100, enough to destroy your Darkness Dragon." Jaderia said with a smirk. Drakien growled in anger at the loss of one of his favourite dragons. He then ended his turn due to the lack of cards in his hand. Jaderia drew her next card.

"Jinzo, Psycho Shocker on Mirage Dragon !" Jaderia ordered.

"Not so fast, I activate the quick play spell card Enemy Controller and use one of its abilities to change your Jinzo to defence mode." Drakien growled. He wasn't going to let another of his dragons get destroyed by that Jinzo. Jaderia ended her turn allowing him to draw his next card. He started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Jaderia snapped.

"I was just surprised you didn't go into your second main phase and change the position of your Jinzo," Drakien sniggered. Jaderia cursed. "First of all I'll activate the spell card Stamping Destruction which allows me to destroy one spell or trap card when I have a Dragon type monster on the field and inflict 500 points of damage once its destroyed, and I choose your Dark Door. I'll then activate my Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons effect. I can now special summon one Dragon type monster from my graveyard and I choose my Red-Eyes Black Dragon." Drakien explained as the black dragon appeared beside him. "Now Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Inferno Fire Blast on her Jinzo!" The dragon let out a roar before firing a blast at the mutated android, which disintegrated once it got hit. Jaderia looked at Drakien, fuming at how he managed to destroy one of her best cards.

"But that's not all. I'll now activate my trap card Dragon's Rage and have my Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon attack your face down." The face down card turned out to be Horus' Servant which only had 100 defence points and thanks to Drakiens Dragon's Rage, Jaderia lost 2700 life points, which along with the 500 she lost from Stamping Destruction brought her to 800. Enough for Drakien to win the duel with his Mirage Dragon, which had 1600 attack points.

"Mirage Dragon. Attack!" He commanded with an evil smile. With a swipe of its tail, the duel was over.


	26. Privacy

Privacy

It had been a week since the disbanding of the Drakmord Drakens and Drakien and Pyro where in their room. Pyro was studying for the upcoming end of year exams, while Drakien was laying in his bed staring at the ceiling. Pyro sighed before sitting back in his chair and stretching his arms above his head.

"How can you just lay there when we've got exams coming up?" Pyro asked in confusion.

"Simple, I just lay down and forget about the exams," Drakien replied. Pyro just glared at Drakien.

"You know what I meant," He said as he got up walked around to stretch his legs. He then turned to face Drakien from the end of his bed.

"Are you really that confident?" Pyro asked.

"Dunno, just don't tell Alexis I'm not revising." Drakien said, yawning. Pyro shook his head and then sat down. After reading his book for about a couple of minutes, he lifted his head and then turned it, so it was in Drakiens direction.

"Has she promised you something?" He asked.

"What?" Drakien asked in confusion, turning his head to Pyros direction. Pyro sighed and decided to make it obvious as to what he was talking about seeing as Drakien often had a bit of trouble understanding what Pyro was on about.

"Are you going to get some sexual favours from Alexis if you revise?" Pyro asked bluntly.

"No,". The voice wasn't Drakiens so Pyro looked at him in a confused manner and then noticed Drakien was looking behind him. Pyro gulped before slowly turning around and coming face to face with Alexis who wasn't looking happy. No one had heard the door open or close.

"Crap," Was all he managed to say.

"I'll be outside," Drakien mumbled as he got up and left Pyro alone with Alexis A couple of minutes later Pyro walked out of the room cursing himself under his breath for saying something so stupid. He then spotted Drakien laying on the sofa in the middle of the room.

"Alexis wants to speak to you privately in our room," He said as he walked over to the sofa and sat down. Drakien nodded and got up and headed for his room.

"I don't see why it has to be me that's kicked out for her private talk," Drakien heard Pyro mumble which caused Drakien to smirk and shake his head.

Drakien entered his room and found Alexis looking a bit upset on the end of his bed.

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked as he walked over to her and sat down, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Is that really what you think about?" She asked confusing Drakien, "I thought that you wanted to wait until both of us graduated." She added, causing Drakien to realise what she was on about.

"Trust me this, I do want to wait. Pyro was just annoyed with me because I wasn't revising." He explained. He then put his finger under her chin and raised her head so that she was looking at him.

"I don't want to muck what we have together up. " He said softly. Alexis closed the gap between them and kissed him.

"Thank you," Alexis said smiling once they broke apart. Drakien smiled at her but stopped when he saw her expression change.

"Now why weren't you studying?" She demanded. Drakien couldn't help but crack a smile, neither could Alexis.

"Because I was thinking of you," Drakien said before embracing her and pulling her on top of him as he laid down making her scream.

Meanwhile Pyro was sitting in the main room and heard Alexis scream. Pyro couldn't believe it.

"So she tells me off and then goes and does something in _my _room." He said unhappily. Just then Sakura entered the dorm and joined Pyro. She hugged his arm and kissed him on the check before noticing his frown.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm horny and annoyed," Pyro replied. All of a sudden Pyro felt a hand grab his and it pulled him up. He then realised that Sakura was dragging him into her room. Once both had gone through the door she locked it. About a hour later Pyro and Sakura came out the room with huge grins on their faces and blushed when they noticed Drakien and Alexis staring at them with raised eyebrows. Pyro was about to open his mouth to speak when Drakien beat him to it.

"Don't want to know mate," He said very quickly. Pyro then nodded, grabbed Sakuras hand and walked very quickly out the dorm. Alexis looked at Drakien before bursting out with laughter. Drakien watched his girlfriend as she struggled to control her laughter. It wasn't long before he finally gave in and joined her.

Kazuki was just about to knock on the door when the door opened and a very embarrassed Pyro and Sakura walked out the room. He walked into the dorm room once he gave up trying to think of why they would be so embarrassed and found his brother and Alexis laughing.

"WTF?" Kazuki said aloud making his brother look up at him. Drakien managed to control himself and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it," He added.

"Okay," Kazuki said uneasily. He then walked over and joined the couple on the sofa.

"How you doing?" Alexis asked once he sat down.

"I'm doing good thanks." He answered. "How's the studying going?"

"It's going good. Found out that my boyfriend wasn't studying earlier on today." Alexis replied.

"That's sounds about normal, I'd be a bit worried if you said you found him studying his arse off." Kazuki said as he started to chew one of his finger nails.

"Done any decent duels recently?" Drakien asked, quickly changing the subject so that Alexis wouldn't start to question him.

"Yeah, I was able to summon my Dark Sage for once. Didn't really do much but you know my luck when it comes to my Time Wizard." Kazuki explained. Drakien just nodded his head in agreement."Why's it so hard to summon Dark Sage?" Alexis asked. She had heard of the monster but couldn't remember the effect of Dark Sage.

"It can only be special summoned after you call the coin toss right of a Time Wizard on your side of the field and when you have a Dark Magician on the field. You then have to offer the Dark Magician in order to special summon it." Kazuki explained feeling very chuffed with himself. "You can then also select one spell card from your deck and then add it to your hand," He added.

"Now that's just showing off," Drakien said, looking at his brother. "She only wanted to know why it was hard to summon. Not the full effect of the monster,". Kazuki just shrugged his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter, at least he was being thoughtful and telling me the full effect," Alexis said, smiling at Kazuki after she finished speaking.

"At least someone appreciates my thoughtfulness," Kazuki said making Drakien raise an eyebrow and shake his head gently.

"So what are you up to then?" Alexis asked.

"Well I was coming here to see how your revision was going and was going to offer some help seeing as I've got nothing to do today as all my lessons have finished for the day. But seeing as neither of you are revising at the moment it seems a bit pointless." Kazuki explained. Just after he finished speaking his PDA went off. After checking the message he stood up.

"Sorry gotta dash , got someone to beat," He said as he ran to the door and vanished through it.


	27. Determination of An Idiot

Determination of An Idiot

Drakien was sitting in the classroom going through his exam paper. It was his second exam of the week and already he was feeling the exams where no challenge. He had almost been kicked out of his first one because the examiner had thought Drakien was looking at answers on his arm under the desk but it turned out that Drakiens arm was clean and he was just looking at the time on the new watch he had put on just so he was on time for his exams. He looked at his watch however this time above the desk so as not to get into trouble again and realised he had half a hour to go, and he was already on the last question. The only exams he was looking forward to was the duelling tests where he had to accomplish a certain task to pass the tests. Eventually the time passed and Drakien was waiting while the papers where being collected and brought to the front. Once all the papers had been collected the examiner dismissed them all. Drakien walked out of the classroom and unzipped his bag. Standing against the wall, out of the way of the other students in the hall, he searched for his exam timetable. He stifled a yawn as he pulled out the timetable and checked. He hadn't been sleeping well once again due to the recurring nightmares. He had also started to think about what he was going to do when he graduated. He already knew he wasn't going to go back to his foster family. He planned that as soon as he started the academy and had already saved quite a lot of money. After packing his timetable away he made his way to the cafeteria to get a take away coffee. Upon exiting the cafeteria someone bumped into him, knocking the top of the coffee off and spilling some of the hot coffee on his arm. He cursed loudly and launched a kick at the person who ran into him but missed. He then walked around the grounds in a very grumpy mood. He then realised that he was due another check in with the school doctor. He shook his head as he sat down on one of the benches. He wished he could be sitting with Alexis but her exam timetable was different to his and they were pretty much never together for most of the day. He was lucky now as he didn't have any more exams for two days which was when the duelling exams started.

Suddenly Drakien felt a sharp pain on his back as he lurched forward. Getting up he turned around only to see a large branch coming towards him. He managed to get his left arm up to block the branch but he heard a cracking sounds and knew it wasn't the branch. He looked past the branch and saw a large boy holding the branch. Grabbing the end of the branch with his other hand he pulled the branch out of the boys grasp and threw it behind him. The boy then charged at him with Drakien countered with by spinning around and using the power behind the spin to kick the attacker in the face. The assailant fell backwards onto his back. Drakien grabbed the boy by the scuff of the neck and lifted him up slightly.

"Care to explain?" Drakien snarled.

"I've just wanted to do that for so long. Ever since you beat up my older brother and humiliated him." The boy replied. Drakien dropped the kid, obviously not interested in him any more.

"Well you've just humiliated yourself, so go run along to your big brother where you can both compare how badly you where humiliated." Drakien snapped. He then decided that he should probably get his check up now.

Upon arriving at the medical wing, Drakien checked to see if the doctor was free, and it turned out she was. She walked into the room where Drakien was waiting for and motioned for him to come into her room.

"You're a bit early for your check up," She said as they sat down.

"Yeah well, I've got a problem and thought I could get the check up done today along with my problem," Drakien said in a bored tone. The doctor frowned when he said 'problem'.

"So what's your problem then?" She asked. Drakien held up his left arm which, at the end the hand was hanging limply.

"I've broke either my arm or wrist." He simply said.

A few hours later Drakien opened the door to his dorm. Alexis, who was sitting on the sofa, turned around to she who had come through the door. Upon seeing Drakiens arm in a sling she gasped and scrambled to his side.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Got attacked and broke my arm." Drakien said as if was an everyday event.

"How are you to do the duelling exams?" She asked.

"I'll find a way," He replied determinedly. "I'm off to bed," He added before kissing Alexis and then walking to his room. That night Drakien lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, never once changing his position. He noticed Alexis check in on him a couple of times, obviously worried about him. By the time the morning came around, Drakien eyes where black with fatigue. He wandered out into the main room of his dorm and sat down on the sofa. Pyro shortly followed him and recognised the signs. He shook his head and walked out of the room. After fifteen minutes he came back with a large pot of coffee. Pyro then poured a cup and then gave it t Drakien. Drakien took it mumbling a thanks and then downed the hot drink. Drakien then got up and went into his room. Pyro followed cautiously as he knew Drakien could snap very easily when he hadn't slept. Drakien then started going through a box and eventually pulled out an old duel disk, the very first version which was used in Battle City. He then pulled out a tool kit and started taking the wrist strap off the duel disk. Confused as to what he was doing and because he had to leave for an exam, Pyro left Drakien to himself.

It was now two days since Drakien had broken his arm and he was now waiting in the duel arena waiting for his duel exam. Everyone had told him that he wouldn't be able to do it due to his arm but Drakien knew he could do it and had managed the examiners to let him participate.

"Students please put on your duel disks and come up to the arena when your name is called." A voice from the speakers in the room said. Everyone put their duel disks on except Drakien. He was looking at the old duel disk hoping it would do what he had adjusted it to do. He had changed the strap so that it was larger and would hopefully fit around his cast. However the drawback to his idea was that he had to slide the duel disk onto his arm. He took a deep breath before pushing the duel disk up his arm. He heard the sound of the strap grinding the cast as it went up his arm. Once the duel disk was in position he smiled slightly at his achievement. A by the time it was o'clock Drakien had just finished his three duel exams and was walking to his dorm. He was looking at his cast which had a few scratch marks and his arm was aching like mad due to the weight of the disk and how weak his arm was. Alexis soon arrived in their dorm after Drakien had settled down and noticed that his cast was looking a bit tatty.

"What happened to your cast?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

"Oh, this is just from my duel disk," Drakien said casually. He the yawned seeing as he hadn't caught up on his sleep yet.

"Duel disk?" Alexis asked stunned.

"Yeah I modified my old duel disk so that it was possible for a duel disk to fit on top of my cast. I've got to say though my bloody arm hurts." Drakien said. He then received a smack around the back of his head from Alexis. "What was that for?" He asked as he rubbed his head.

"For being a complete idiot. Your supposed to rest your arm," Alexis scolded.

"Trust me, I took care of my arm, I'm not an idiot." Drakien stated.

"Yes you are," She said not completely happy at the idea of him duelling.

"And you love me for it," He added making Alexis smile a bit before he leaned in and kissed her.


	28. The Future

The Future

Drakien was sitting on the dorm sofa waiting for Alexis. The two were planning on spending the rest of the day outside seeing as it was a nice sunny day. Alexis was on her way to the dorm after finishing her last exam. She soon burst through the door and quickly walked into her room, catching Drakien by surprise.

"Are you okay?" He shouted.

"Yeah, just getting changed." Alexis replied from behind her door. Drakien shrugged his shoulder and then adjusted his sling out of habit. It wasn't long before Alexis emerged from her room in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. He smiled at her thinking that she looked beautiful regardless of what she wore. But he had to admit that he liked seeing her in her uniform best. Alexis noticed the smile and knew it was one of his rare ones and smiled back at him.

"Shall we go then?" She asked walking up to him.

"Yep," He said after stealing a quick kiss. The two left their dorm and made their way outside hand in hand. Drakien was feeling a lot better than he had been as he had managed to catch up on some sleep. They soon arrived at a quiet clearing within the grounds which nobody had noticed. Alexis sat down after laying a blanket on the floor and Drakien laid down next to her.

"So how was your last exam?" Drakien asked.

"It went okay," Alexis replied and she then went on to explain what happened. It wasn't long before Alexis joined Drakien, lying down next to him. She had her right arm over his chest and she was careful not to touch his left arm.

The couple just laid there, enjoying each others company and watching the clouds and sometimes commenting on what they looked like or they just mentioned small things. It was then that Alexis decided to ask the question that had been in her head since the start of the day.

"Drakien," She started getting a "Hmmm" from him. "What do you plan on doing once you graduate?" She asked. She knew he didn't like his foster parents but he never mentioned anything about what his future plans where.

"I'm gonna first of all find a place of my own, and then enter a couple of big tournaments, hopefully win and get my name known and then enter the Pro's," Drakien said.

"A place of your own?" Alexis asked surprised that he could afford it considering as far as she knew he didn't have a lot of money.

"I could share it with you if you want," Drakien said not noticing her surprise and thinking that she was thinking about them. This remark however caught Alexis by surprise.

"Are…Are you sure?" She asked stuttering.

"Yeah. It'll probably be a small place but hopefully we could then get a bigger place once we can afford it." Drakien explained.

"Don't you need to stay someplace before finding the house?" She asked. "So you can store your stuff while you search,"

"I've been searching the net in my spare time and I think I may have found a place," Drakien said smiling slightly at her.

"What will they say about all this?" She asked. Drakien knew by they she meant his foster parents.

"Well to be honest I couldn't give a crap. But something tells me they won't care. However I think Kazuki will be a bit upset seeing as he has just about another two years here," Drakien said sighing once he started talking about Kazuki.

"But he'll be able to visit so that shouldn't be a problem," Alexis said encouraging him. Drakien smiled at her again and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah course he will, he wouldn't have it any other way. He can be very persuasive at times," He said chuckling a bit.

"Well if you need a place to stay so you don't have to go to theirs then I'm sure you can come to my place. My parents loved you and even asked me when they'd next be able to see you," Alexis offered. Drakien felt pleased with himself.

"If you want me to stay then sure I'll take the offer," Drakien said.

"Cool, I'll have a word with my parents tomorrow and I can then ask them about moving in with you at the same time if you want me," Alexis said. Drakien looked at her.

"Of course I do," He said which earned him a kiss.

The two laid there in each others arm for quite a while. By the time Drakien spoke up, the sun had started to set.

"It feels weird that we only have about three more days here," Drakien stated. Alexis looked up at him.

"Are you worried?" She asked.

"Not really, I will miss this place though," Drakien replied.

"You surprise me," Alexis said.

"Whys that?" Drakien asked with a frown.

"Well it's just that from what I've learnt about you, you've had a hard time here," Alexis explained.

"There's no denying that, but I tend to remember the days that I enjoyed, not the ones I hated. For example I still remember the day we started going out." Drakien said pulling her closer to him. She smiled at how he still remembered that day. She thought he would've forgotten about how it happened but obviously she was wrong. They both continued to lay there for a couple of minutes before Drakien once again broke the silence.

"I love you," He said. Alexis turned to him.

"I love you too," She said back to him and then kissed him. It wasn't long before the sun had set and the couple had decided to make their way back to their dorm. Drakien was sitting on the sofa while Alexis was having a shower. When she had finished she had arrived at her doorway. Drakien looked over to the doorway and saw Alexis wearing one of his shirts which she had 'nicked' and wore as her pyjama top. The shirt was big enough to cover half way down her thighs.

"What's up?" He asked, getting up from where he sat.

"Will….Will you spend the night with me?" She asked.

"Just to make sure, you don't mean have sex do you?" He asked. Alexis shook her head. "Okay, yeah why not," He added. He then walked into the room and started to get undressed. Alexis helped him with his top. Once stripped down to his boxers, the two got into Alexis' bed. Surprisingly, both of them fitted in the bed with just a bit of extra room.

"Thank you," Alexis said before drifting off to sleep. Drakien just kissed her head and smiled. Glad that he had the best girl a guy could ask for.

Meanwhile, in his room Kazuki was sitting up against the head rest of his bed unable to sleep. The reason for this was because he was feeling upset. He had found out about the plans his brother had once he graduated. He knew his brothers plans to move out as soon as he had found some of the web pages Drakien had been searching when using his computer that day while Drakien was out with Alexis (of course he got permission first from Drakien). He was dreading each and every minute that counted down till the day that his brother would graduate.


	29. Graduation

Graduation

Drakien sat out side on his own. He only had two more days left at NDA until he graduated along with Pyro, Sakura and of course, Alexis. He was waiting at this specific place as his brother had asked him to meet him there. But so far he hadn't seen or heard his brother. Drakien sighed. Just then he heard footsteps behind him and he turned his head to see who it was. It was Kazuki.

"What'd you wanna meet me for?" Drakien asked as he turned to face his brother.

"Is it true?" Was all Kazuki said.

"Is what true?" Drakien asked confused.

"That your gonna be moving out," Kazuki almost shouted.

"Well, yeah, but how'd you know?" Drakien responded.

"There's something called History on the internet. I'd lost the page and went to find in the History but all I find are these pages with apartments on them." Kazuki explained.

"Oh," Was all Drakien said to that. There was a short silence between the two before Drakien broke it.

"Why are you so upset about?" He asked realising why his brother was acting this way.

"Because your gonna move out so I'm left with them, and I'll be alone," Kazuki said almost on the verge of tears.

"You can visit me, you can even stay some nights. I was never planning on cutting you out of my life." Drakien said placing his right hand on his brothers shoulder.

"You promise?" Kazuki asked knowing that his brother never broke his promises. He had kept every single one he had made with him.

"I promise," Drakien said clearly. This made Kazuki smile a bit. "Was that all this was about?" Drakien asked.

"Yeah," Kazuki replied, nodding.

"You should've known that I wouldn't do anything to upset you intentionally." Drakien said as he ruffled up his bothers hair.

"Yeah I guess," Kazuki said as he pulled himself out of reach of Drakien. "Can we do a tag duel?" He asked.

"Sorry but I can't, Alexis will kill me if she finds out I've been duelling again." Drakien apologised.

"But she let you for your exam," Kazuki stated.

"She didn't know I'd done it until after," Drakien stated. Kazuki looked down but knew his brother was right.

"Okay," Kazuki mumbled dropping his head

"Look I know it's not the same but I could watch you?" Drakien offered. Kazuki looked up at him with a smile.

"Okay," He said. So the two went off to find an opponent for Kazuki. While Kazuki was searching, Drakien was looking through his deck. He then pulled out two cards in his back pocket and slipped them into the deck with a smile. He would hope these two cards would make it up to him for keeping him in the dark about moving out.

It was nearing the end of the duel and it was the start of Kazukis turn. Alexis and Sakura had found Drakien and Kazuki and joined Drakien in watching his younger brother duel. Kazuki drew his next and looked at it with surprise.

"I don't remember getting that card," He mumbled to himself. He then turned to look at Drakien who looked at him with a small smile. Kazuki knew it was him.

"I'll summon Silent Magician Lv4 in attack mode." Kazuki said as he played the card. He knew his opponent couldn't attack it thanks to his two Magicians Valkyrie which stopped his opponent from attack other spellcasters except Magician Valkyrie, but seeing as he had two they protected each other and any other spellcasters he had on the field.

Five turns had passed since Kazuki had played his Silent Magician Lv4 on the field and it's effect was ready to kick in. "I'll now offer my Silent Magician Lv4 to special summon Silent Magician Lv8 from my hand." Kazuki said as he played the second card that Drakien had given him. "Now Silent Magician Lv8 attack him and wipe out the rest of his life points," He commanded as he pointed at his opponent. The mage launched a blinding attack at the opponents monster and took out the remaining life points. Kazuki then turned to face his brother with a huge grin on his face. He then walked up to his brother.

"How did you know I wanted those cards?" Kazuki asked.

"I'm your older brother, I should know things like that," Was all Drakien said. "Great duel,".

Alexis looked at her watch and noticed the time.

"We should go get ready for our graduation ceremony," She said grabbing Drakiens hand.

"See you around," Drakien said as his brother started to walk in a different direction.

"Have fun," Kazuki said before turning around to walk in the direction he was moving in.

It was an hour into the ceremony and the tutors where going about handing out awards and shaking the students hands whenever they won an award. Drakien had won quite a few awards, such as longest wining spree which was the five years he had been here and the quickest duel. Alexis had won the award for the highest written exam mark. Even Pyro had won an award which he didn't even think existed in this academy but he was proved wrong when he won the most entertaining student and most entertaining duel along with Sakura. The Chancellor was now going on about how in his short time after replacing the old Chancellor, that he was pleased to have met most of the students except when it was for something bad. Drakien was bored out of his mind. Luckily he was sitting next to Alexis and was holding her hand rubbing his thumb up and down her first finger. He had placed his awards in his bag with some help with Alexis and was hoping that the ceremony would end soon. Once it finished the last year student body went outside to have a barbeque. Drakien wasn't feeling hungry but sat with Alexis, Sakura and Pyro while they ate their food. Drakien was telling the three of them about the place he had found which he was going to buy.

"Wow, never realised you had planned so far ahead." Sakura said in astonishment.

"Would we be able to visit?" Pyro asked.

"You didn't need to ask you moron. Of course you can visit," Drakien replied shaking his head.

"Awesome," Pyro said un phased by the name calling. He then took a bite out of his burger. After swallowing the food he spoke up a again. "You know, I'm surprised I even won my awards. Wasn't expecting anything,"

"Knew I'd get something, I mean it's not like they could ignore that the fact that I'd never lost since I enrolled here." Drakien said, almost sounding disappointed.

"Well at least your definitely gonna be picked up for the Pro's," Sakura said. Drakien said nothing as he didn't know how to respond to that question. He couldn't wait to enter the Pro's as there were two people he wanted to duel, one he knew was still duelling every now and then and one that he hoped would be in the Pro's when he joined. Those two people were Seto Kaiba and Jaden Yuki. He had heard quite a lot about Jaden from Alexis and Atticus and made a vow that if he ever duelled Jaden he would duel without holding anything back. He would also do the same if he ever got his chance at hid dream, to duel Seto Kaiba. Pyro left to go to the toilet, so Drakien sat there and just watched his girlfriend as she conversed with Sakura. She noticed him looking and smiled at him while maintaining her attention on what Sakura was saying. Drakien smiled back and then excused himself and left the table. He left the area where the barbeque was being held and made his way to the beach on the island. Upon arriving at the beach he sat down and watched the sun starting to set and the waves wash the shore. He lost track of how long he'd spent sitting there but it was once the sun was half gone against the horizon that Alexis sat down next to him and held his hand. The two said nothing but watched the sun until it had fully set before making their way back to the dorm to get themselves ready for their last two days.


	30. Goodbyes and New Journeys

Goodbyes and New Journeys

Drakien was on the stern with Alexis standing next to him. A couple of feet to his left were Pyro and Sakura. The four of them were watching the shrinking island of NDA. Drakien had said goodbye to his younger brother but it felt weird seeing as he wasn't leaving the island with him, seeing as Kazuki still had a couple more weeks before he finished his year. Kazuki had actually burst into tears when he waved goodbye to them and had waited until he couldn't see him on the stern anymore. Drakien was watching the one place he called home disappear from sight, most likely never to return again. Alexis rubbed his shoulder, aware of how he was feeling. Upset and ill. She still remembered how many times he had thrown up on the way to her house. So far he hadn't thrown up but that was probably due to the travel sickness tablets he had taken shortly after he had woken up. Once the island had completely disappeared from sight the couple went to their cabin. Drakien couldn't wait to get off the boat. Alexis had spoken to her parents about her moving in with Drakien and they agreed as long as she was to stay in touch with them. She had also asked if they could give her and Drakien a lift to the apartment, which they had agreed to. Suddenly there was a knock on their cabin door. Drakien got up and opened the door and saw Ryu Kantenchi standing there.

"What do you want?" Drakien asked in a bored tone.

"I just wanted to thank you for being a great rival and challenge." Ryu said holding out his hand. Drakien just looked at him un amused.

"Yeah that's great." Drakien said. "Anything else?"

"Nice to see your still a bastard." Ryu said before turning around to leave.

"I try my best," Drakien retorted. He then closed the door and turned around. He then came to a realisation. If he did get into the Pro's he'd have to be polite to his opponents. But then again that didn't mean he had to like them. So he was fine with that.

A few hours later the ferry had arrived at it's destination and it's passengers were getting off the ferry. Alexis and Drakien had managed to get off early and managed to avoid the waiting. They soon found Alexis' parents who helped the couple with their luggage while finding out about Drakiens arm. A couple of hours later the car pulled up outside a small block of apartments. Luckily for Drakien he had managed to sort all the paper work out on line and had the key posted to him so that he could get in as soon as he arrived. Drakien opened the door and smiled at what he saw. Going through the hall, he checked each room and found it exactly like the web site had described it. Alexis and her parents where quite impressed with Drakiens choose and set to work bringing stuff in from the car. Alexis's parents had brought some stuff such as plates and cutlery to help them get started. After an hour of settling in and having a cup of tea, Alexis's parent bid farewell to the couple.

Drakien was sitting what was meant to be bedroom, on the floor against the wall with Alexis in his arm.

"You know this is a really nice place." Alexis said looking up at him. "Better than what I expected," She added.

"Yeah but unfortunately we've got to go shopping tomorrow for furniture and stuff." Drakien sighed.

"Yeah," Alexis also sighed. She then got up and went over to their bags and pulled out her phone.

"What you doing?" Drakien asked as he watched Alexis dial some numbers and then hold the phone to her ear.

"I said I'd tell Sakura our address once we got settled in, so that Pyro and her knew," She replied just before Sakura picked up her phone. It was late now, so Drakien decided to unroll the futon he had got and got undressed and got in. Alexis soon joined him when she finished her conversation with Sakura.

After waking up the next morning and getting ready, Drakien and Alexis left to go shopping for some stuff. Drakien had made sure it was in an area where they held quite a few tournaments and was near the town centre. They managed to get the necessities while down there such as basic cooking utensils and some food. Drakien had also entered a tournament which was due to start soon. Drakien was also looking forward to the day that his cast could come off as it was really starting to bug him. Luckily he would have it off before the tournament would start. They stopped off at a local café to have a cup of coffee/tea and some food. After they finished there Drakien went to look for what jobs were available. After spending a good five hours down town the couple decided to head back home.

Weeks passed and soon they had everything they needed for the apartment. They had even gone a redecorated some of the rooms. Drakien had managed to get a job at the local duel shop while Alexis got a part time job at the local supermarket. Drakien had got a phone call from his foster parents, asking him where the hell he was. Drakien had been in a very angry mood for five days after that phone call. Kazuki had come round on the fifth day and lift his brothers mood along with Alexis. Pyro and Sakura had also visited shortly after Kazuki and wee very impressed with the apartment. They had also announced that they were going to be moving into a slightly smaller apartment themselves in a couple of days and had invited Drakien and Alexis to came to a house warming party which Drakien and Alexis gladly accepted the offer. Alexis's parent came round every other weekend to see how the couple were getting settled in. Drakien also had his cast taken off which made him happy and as soon as he got home he grabbed his duel disk and scoured the town for challenges which he got quite a few of and made a decent impression.

Right now Drakien was in a duel against one of the younger kids on the block as he and Alexis were looking after him while his parents went out. Drakien was teaching him how to duel.

"Urm, I summon Battle Ox in attack mode, and then get it to attack your life points." The young kid said. He was small for his age and had brown hair. He also had a scare on his forehead, just above his eye which he had got from falling off a climbing frame. The boy had taken a liking to Drakien and the same could be said for Drakien. The giant armoured Ox swung at Drakien and took out 1700 of Drakiens life points. Drakien meanwhile smiled when the axe hit him. Unfortunately he'd have to end it on his turn.

"I end," The boy said with a huge grin. That had been his first direct attack on Drakien since he started learning and was very pleased with himself.

"I'm sorry Henry but I activate the spell card Ancient Rules which allows me to special summon a level five or higher normal type monster and I choose my Red-Eyes Black Dragon." Dragon said as the black dragon appeared along side him. Drakien was impressed with the way Henry was thinking with the deck Drakien had made for him from his spare cards. "Now Red-Eyes, attack Battle Ox with Inferno Fire Blast," He commanded. The armoured Ox was engulfed in flame and disappeared taking the remaining life points Henry had. After the holograms faded Henry ran towards Drakien.

"Did you see that? I done a direct attack," Henry said, obviously please with himself. Just then Alexis came out of the door.

"Drakien! Henry! Dinners ready!" She called. Henry ran up the stairs towards Alexis.

"I done a direct attack on Drakien," He said to Alexis.

"Did you now?" She asked while looking at Drakien as he came up the stairs. He the kissed her.

"Yep he sure did," Drakien replied with a smile. He then put an arm around her shoulders and walked in with her.


	31. Epilogue Three Years Later

Epilogue - Three Years Later

Drakien was standing on a lift ready to go up to the main arena and face his opponent. He saw Alexis came into the room smiling at him. He checked the timer which told him how much time he had until the lift would start rising. He jumped off and ran over to his Fiancé.

"Good luck," She said before kissing him.

"Cheers," He said kissing her again. "Make sure you two watch me," He said smiling as he rubbed her stomach. Alexis had recently found out she was pregnant with their first child.

"We will, but you may want to get on the lift so we can see you in action." She said pointing at the raising lift which was meant to be taking him to the arena. He ran over to the lift after giving her a quick kiss and jumped onto the lift.

"And put your hands together for Drakien Seckuro!" A voice shouted through a speaker. The crowd cheered loudly. Drakien looked over at his opponent. His opponent had brown hair and was dressed messily. None of the crowd apart form Alexis saw what happened next. Three duel spirits appeared behind Drakien: Red-Eyes Black Dragon on his right, Blue-Eyes White Dragon on his left and Light and Darkness directly behind him. However another spirit appeared but this time by Drakiens opponent. A Winged Kuriboh.

"Well lets find out which one of us is the better Drakien," The boy said with an eager smile. Drakien knew his opponent could see his spirits if he had one of his own but he was obviously un fazed by their presence.

"Yes lets find out Jaden," Drakien said with a slightly evil smile.

"GET YOUR GAME ON,", "LETS DUEL," The two shouted as they activated their duel disks.


End file.
